


Can't Get You Off My Mind

by ClaraHue



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Inspired by Imagine Me & You (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-07-23 07:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16154276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraHue/pseuds/ClaraHue
Summary: Waverly and Perry have been friends for as long as she can remember, and Waverly can only say yes when Perry asks her to marry him. But on her wedding day when she meets the eyes of a strange woman and can’t help but find herself drawn to Nicole.Aka: my take on an Imagine Me and You AU with Wayhaught





	1. The Proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You do not want to know how many times I rewrote this fic. I started this after the end of season 2 and well I'm posting it now while we wait for season 4.  
> Some notes: In this fic Wynonna never left Purgatory after her parents died, but stuck around to take care of Waverly. Also Perry is Waverly's age, instead of being closer to Wynonna's like in the show. (I wanted Waverly to marry someone nice, unlike Champ.)
> 
> My Jam for this fic: No Roots by Alice Merton
> 
> Special thanks to littlescarletstar for being an awesome beta!

 

“Good morning.”

Wynonna stood on the other side of the door giving Perry a death glare.

“Um…” Perry stuttered. “Is Waverly home?”

Wynonna just kept glaring at Perry, saying nothing.

“Perry, is that you?” Waverly called out as she ran down the stairs, putting her hair up in the process. “Wynonna, let Perry in.”

“He seems fine outside,” Wynonna muttered, still glaring at Perry.

“Wynonna.” Waverly rolled her eyes as she pushed Wynonna out of the way. “Hey Per,” Waverly hugged and kissed Perry.

Wynonna made a gagging sound from beside them. “Get a room,” she said as she went off to the kitchen.

“So how are you?” Perry asked.

“Amazing, where are you taking me tonight?”

“Can’t say.” Perry smiled.

“I hate surprises.”

“That’s a lie,” Wynonna said. “If you kidnap her or something...” Wynonna pointed a threatening finger at Perry.

Waverly just let out an annoyed sigh. “Come on Perry, lets go.”

“You better bring her back on time,” Wynonna threatened.

“Bye Wynonna,” Waverly said, linking arms with Perry as she closed the door behind her.

“Have I ever told you how terrifying your sister is?”

“About ten-thousand times.” Waverly laughed. “You know she’s just trying to protect me.”

“Yeah I know, that’s what terrifies me.” Perry scratched at the back of his neck nervously.

“What is it?” Waverly asked, sensing his nervousness.

“Nothing,” Perry reassured her, smiling.

-

Purgatory only had one nice restaurant so it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to Waverly that that was where Perry was taking Waverly for their date.

“You remember when we became friends?” Perry asked.

“ Yeah, I can still remember. It was grade eight, you were the new kid, and I was the girl no one wanted to be lab partners with in science class.”

“And no one wanted to be partners with me either and you were like the only kid who was nice to me. And when I asked if you wanted to be partners, you said that we should be partners for everything.”

“God, was I that forward?” Waverly hid her face in her hands in embarrassment.

“I’m glad you were. I couldn’t have imagined life without you being my best friend, then my girlfriend.” Perry took Waverly’s hand into his own.

Waverly smiled. “Me neither. And you’re still my best friend by the way. Maybe my only friend.”

“What do you mean? Everyone in town loves  you. ”

“Yeah, but they’re not my friends,” Waverly said slowly.

“You could make friends with anyone you wanted to.”

Waverly smiled softly as Perry gripped her hand.

“Waverly?”

“Yeah?”

“I… I, um.” Perry searched through his pocket as he struggled for words. “I wanted to, ah… I want to ask you…”

Perry pulled out a small box and Waverly quickly began to register what was happening. He opened it and inside was a small sparkly ring, exactly the one Waverly had always dreamed of. Tears began to fall from Waverly’s eyes as Perry got down on one knee, quickly drawing the attention of everyone in the restaurant.

“Waverly Earp, will you marry me?”

“Yes, yes!” Waverly nodded through overjoyed tears.

“Really?!” Perry asked in shock.

“Of course. You’re my best friend, of course.”

Perry laughed, slipping the ring on between a hug and a passionate kiss as the restaurant cheered.

“You did ask Wynonna right?” Waverly asked, still wrapping her head around the reality that Perry had just asked her to marry him.

“ Umm , I may have forgotten to do that…” Perry stuttered out.

“Oh Perry,” Waverly said, mirroring his terrified look.

-

 

“He did what now?!”

Nicole heard Wynonna yell from across the station.

“That son of a bitch did WHAT? And he didn’t even ask me. Does everyone know about this but me?”

Nicole began standing up, finding Dolls standing there holding back laughter as Wynonna yelled at one of the poor young police officers.

“What’s happening?” Nicole asked.

“Waverly’s boyfriend proposed last night, and Wynonna is just finding out now,” Dolls told her.

“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch!” Wynonna continued to yell.

“She seems pissed,” Nicole observed.

“I’m going to throw his sorry ass in prison,” Wynonna threatened.

“Alright, Wynonna,  calm down,” Dolls spoke up. “I’m afraid we can’t arrest him for proposing to your sister.”

“You bet I can.”

Nicole just laughed from the side lines.

“Hot-stuff’s got my back.”

“Sure.” Nicole nodded.

“Just because you’re a cop, does not mean you can just go around arresting whoever you want,” Dolls interrupted.

“Yeah, yeah. With great power comes great responsibility. Whatever,” Wynonna waved him off. “Hot-stuff, you  wanna come kick some ass?”

“Sure.”

“Agent Haught has work to do,” Dolls told Wynonna. “And so do you.”

“Maybe later,” Nicole whispered to her before slipping back to her desk, continuing with her paperwork.

-

 

“Hot-stuff.” Nicole looked up to see Wynonna peering into the office. “You  done for the day?”

“Just about,” Nicole said, as she shuffled through her paperwork.

“You want to go grab a drink? I could use one.”

“Sure. I thought you wanted to kick your sister’s boyfriend’s ass?”

“The son of a bitch is hiding from me. And my sister won’t pick up her phone because she knows I’m pissed.”

“Why are you angry  anyways ?” Nicole asked as she got up from her desk.

“He didn’t even ask for my permission. Aren’t you supposed to, like, ask the family for permission first?”

“I guess, but that’s an old tradition.”

“Well I would have appreciated it.”

“Would you have said yes?” Nicole asks, putting on her coat.

“No.”

Nicole raises an eyebrow at her.

“Okay, I get it,” Wynonna said as they began walking out of the precinct. “It’s just I’m protective of Waverly that’s all. She’s the only family I’ve got, and I’ve been taking care of her ever since our dad died. Well, I guess she could get married to someone worse. She used to date this real jerk, you know Champ Hardy right?”

“The guy we arrested after he drove into a fence after drinking too much?”

Wynonna nodded. “She used to date him in high school, I’m glad that ended. I guess Perry’s a nice guy. She likes him, like a lot. So I guess that’s good. It’s just weird to think about your little sister getting married, that’s all.”

“Well, she’s just engaged.”

“Knowing her, they’ll be married in a week.”

-

 

Nicole finally managed to get the key in the lock, opening the door. Wynonna giggled beside her, putting most of her weight onto Nicole.

“Come on Wynonna,” Nicole slurred, as she struggled to hold Wynonna up.

“What’s going on?” Jeremy asked coming to the door.

“Jeremy!” Wynonna said enthusiastically. “You’re such a nerd.”

“Well, I do work in IT.”

“Jeremy help,” Nicole huffed, struggling under the weight of Wynonna.

“Are you drunk again?” Jeremy asked, helping drag Wynonna over to the couch, Calamity Jane jumping off.

Wynonna’s phone buzzed. She took it out of her pocket as Nicole fell down on the couch beside her. “Finally the bitch texts me.”

“Who?”

“My sister.” Wynonna shoves the phone in Nicole’s face. Nicole can’t actually read it though, as it’s too close.

Wynonna takes the phone  back as Nicole begins to take off her boots. “Blah, blah, Wynonna please understand. Whatever.” Wynonna drops the phone on the counter. “Thanks for the fun night hot-stuff, I like you,” Wynonna says, before  curling up against the pillow on the bed. “I like you more then that son-of-a-bitch.”

“So why is she here?” Jeremy asks, taking Nicole’s boots, before Nicole moves to take Wynonna’s off.

“Waverly got proposed to, but her boyfriend didn’t ask for Wynonna’s permission so she’s kind of pissed.”

“Oh.”

“She’s just going hang out here for the night.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Jeremy sighs out, he’s used to Wynonna sleeping over.

-

 

Nicole had come to Purgatory over a year ago. She had transferred police stations, having always wanted to move to the country. After a few nights in a crappy hotel, she had managed to find Jeremy, who was looking for a roommate to help make the cost of his apartment cheaper. Jeremy was pretty awesome, he was a little awkward and geeky, but nothing that bothered Nicole. He let her adopt a  cat, even though he thought he might be allergic (turned out he wasn’t).

Nicole’s strange relationship with Wynonna hadn’t started right away. They didn’t exactly work alongside each other in the precinct, but within the first day Wynonna had made her impression on Nicole. At first, Nicole thought she was hot-headed and too wild, so she  chose to stay away from her. One night the whole police force went out for some drinks, and Nicole saw the fun side of Wynonna. She had partied a lot with Wynonna that night and a few days after, Wynonna asked if Nicole wanted to go out drinking with her, and Nicole found herself saying yes. With a few drinks in her, Wynonna really opened up. Nicole figured out quickly that the only thing that really mattered to Wynonna was her sister.

It wasn’t the first time she had heard the name Waverly. It seemed as though everyone in Purgatory knew and loved Waverly. Nicole couldn’t believe that the crazy Wynonna was sisters with the town’s beloved Waverly. Nicole had never actually met Waverly. She saw her at Shorty’s once though, where Waverly worked. But they never really introduced themselves to each other. Nicole remembered the first time she saw Waverly in Shorty’s, finally understanding why everyone in Purgatory was so drawn to the woman, for she was beautiful. Nicole would have talked to her, but after hearing Wynonna’s fierce protective instincts over her sister, and the fact that she was already dating someone, she decided not to.

Nicole woke up the next morning to a pounding headache. When she finally got up, Wynonna was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Wynonna?” Nicole asked Jeremy.

“She left, her sister called.”

Nicole  hoped that for the Earp girls sake they could figure everything out. She could see how much they cared for each other. And even though Wynonna may be pretending to be pissed, it was clear that she was happy. Perhaps a little scared, but that was understandable.

 


	2. The Wedding

**SIX MONTHS LATER**

 

Nicole was working the night shift, as per usual. It seemed like  all of the crappy shifts were thrown to the new girl.

“What’s a cute girl doing here all alone?”

Nicole looked up to see Wynonna standing in the doorway.

“Are you drunk?” Nicole asked, a bit too tired to deal with Wynonna’s antics.

“I’m always drunk.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Wynonna, I don’t have the time right now. You can go home, I’ve got this handled.”

“I don’t want to go home, my sister is going wedding crazy. It’s scary and kind of annoying. She’s got this bulletin board and everything. We should go out and have some fun,” Wynonna suggested.

“I’m working.”

Wynonna pulled out a bottle of alcohol from the cupboard. Nicole snorted at her hiding place.

“Wynonna.”

“Come on hot-stuff. You need to loosen up.”

Nicole just rolled her eyes. “How you doing with the whole wedding stuff  anyways ?”

“It’s just so intense. Apparently everything has to be perfect. You can’t believe how much stuff has to be done for a wedding. Why can’t they just elope? Oh, and  they’ re inviting the whole town, so that’s a thing.”

“The wedding is basically the talk of the town.”

“I wonder if it might be too much. But she seems happy, nervous, but that’s reasonable right?”

Nicole nodded, as Wynonna propped her feet up on the chair beside her.

“So how late do you have to stay?”

Nicole just sighed, realizing that Wynonna was probably going to bother her all night long.

-

“So it’s for sure on Saturday then,” Wynonna asked Waverly in a joking manner.

“Yes,” Waverly said, spinning around in front of her mirror in her wedding dress.

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“Yes, I’m sure Wynonna. I’ve been planning this for months. I want to get married to Perry. I just want everything to be right.”

“Everything will be fine,” Wynonna reassured her.

“You promise to get the flowers?”

“Don’t worry, I got them.”

“Wynonna.” Waverly glared at her.

“I won’t forget. I want you to get married  too, you know. Everything will be perfect and by Saturday, you’ll be Mrs. Waverly Crofte.”

Waverly smiled.

“Waverly Earp-Crofte,” Wynonna corrected herself.

“I can’t believe this is finally happening.”

“So you keep saying,” Wynonna mumbled to herself.

“Can you please be happy for me?”

“I am, honestly. You look gorgeous.” Wynonna hugged her sister tight. “I can’t believe my baby girl is getting married.”

-

“Shit,” Wynonna swore quietly.

Nicole looked up at Wynonna, sitting a few desks away from her.

“I told Waverly I’d get the flowers for her wedding and I totally forgot.”

“Isn’t the wedding like in few days?”

“Yeah.”

“Wynonna!”

“I know. Shit, she’s going to murder me.”

“It’s okay Wynonna. Just get flowers tonight, I’m sure she’ll love them.”

“No, you don’t understand. If I don’t get the perfect flowers she’ll freak  out and hate me forever. She might not even get married. Everything has to be  perfect .” Wynonna buried her head in her hands. “I don’t know a thing about flowers. Why did I agree to this? I always mess things up.”

Nicole sighed, seeing how torn up Wynonna was about this. “I once dated a girl who worked in her mom’s flower shop. It was cute at first, but it got weird when she was telling me all the meanings behind different flowers. So now I randomly know the meaning behind flowers.”

“You know the meaning of flowers?”

Nicole nodded as a smile formed on Wynonna’s face.

“No, no, no.” Nicole shook her head, catching on to what Wynonna wanted her to do.

“Please, Nicole, I need you. I would just fail at it  anyways . And Dolls is working me like crazy, he doesn’t even care about the fact that my sister is getting married in a few days.”

“She’s your sister Wynonna, you made her a promise.”

“Come on. I’ll pay you.”

Wynonna gave a big smile and Nicole could feel herself caving. “What kind of flowers does she want?”

“I don’t know, pretty ones. I’m sure you’ll find the perfect ones. I owe you big time, hot-stuff.”

“Great,” Nicole huffed.

-

Nicole tossed flowers into the back of her truck. Jeremy sneezed violently behind her, helping move a potted plant into the back of the truck.

“Jeremy!” Nicole said, jumping away from him.

“Sorry, allergies. How many flowers does one girl need?”

“It’s her wedding day Jeremy. Girls go crazy for flowers.”

“You don’t strike me as the flower crazy type.”

“I would still like to have flowers on my wedding day.”

“So are you going to go?”

“I’m not really one for weddings.”

“I love  weddin gs. Seeing two people in love getting married, it’s sweet.”

Nicole hummed to herself, readjusting the flowers in her truck. “Okay, I think that’s it.”

“Great,” Jeremy sighed. “I don’t think my allergies can handle any more.”

“Alright, you want to come help set up?”

“Sure,” Jeremy shrugged.

Jeremy jumped in the truck as Nicole drove off to the barn where the  wedding was taking place.

A few people were there when Nicole arrived, getting the place set up. There was a large tent set up not too far away, with tables all ready, and a speaker system. The spot seemed nice. Nicole wondered how popular it was as a wedding spot within Purgatory. Nicole ordered Jeremy around, planning out where the flowers should go. Between figuring out where the flowers should go, Nicole watched as the others set up for the big day. Nicole saw Wynonna not too far away, looking over everything, probably making sure everything was perfect.

“Officer Haught!” Wynonna waved at her.

“Hey Wynonna.”

“The flowers look great, you did a great job, thanks so much.”

“Thanks. It all looks really nice. How’s your sister?”

“Just nervous. Are you coming tomorrow?”

“I’m coming,” Jeremy interrupted.

“Well…” Nicole said softly, not really wanting to go.

“You should come. I mean I kind of forced you to do the flowers. I don’t have a date, it would be nice to have another single person to hang out with.”

“What if I suddenly find a  date ?”

“Not likely.”

“Rude.”

“The wedding’s tomorrow. That’s not a lot of time to find a date.”

Nicole laughed.

“You should come, it will be fun or whatever.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“That means you’re coming.”

“Maybe.”

Wynonna smiled. “See you tomorrow Nicole.” Wynonna turned to Jeremy and said goodbye to him as well.

-

Nicole still had work the next day, but before work she scrounged through her closet finding the nicest dress she owned. It was slightly crinkled, but it would do. She slipped out of work early, saying goodbye to everyone and getting ready for the wedding. She wasn’t sure why she was going, but she figured she should at least be there for Wynonna. They were  kin d of friends, at least they were friends in Wynonna’s book, which was quite a feat in itself.

Nicole drove down to the barn. People began to arrive and Nicole got swept up into the crowd being rounded up into the tent. Small talk began and Nicole was reminded why she didn’t like weddings. At least there was free food later.

The chatting began to dwindle as the music began to play. People began to sit down in the chairs, taking out their cameras. Nicole was still on the outskirts of the tent, she noticed that one of her flower pots had fallen over and went to put it up right.

The wedding party made their way, the music began to play and the wedding party whispered amongst themselves. Nicole realized the bride-to-be was taking a bit too long before walking down the aisle. She  hoped everything was okay.

-

Waverly stood in front on the mirror biting her lip. “It’s perfect, isn’t it?” she asked Wynonna.

“Everything’s perfect,” Wynonna confirmed.

Waverly nodded.  _ Why was she like this, why did everything have to be perfect, why was she nervous?  _ She just kept reminding herself that these feelings were totally normal.

“I guess it’s time to go, we can’t keep the people waiting.”

Wynonna smiled, linking her arms with Waverly. “Are you sure you’re ready baby girl? There’s still time to cancel.”

Waverly laughed, shaking her head. “No, I’m not going to cancel, there’s way too many people I would be disappointing. I’m ready.”

“Good.” Wynonna smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m so proud of you. Alright, here we go!” Wynonna ran out giving Waverly a thumbs up.

Wynonna ran into the tent and up to the altar just as people were starting to get worried. Nicole couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Wynonna in a very frilly dress, she must have hated it.

Nicole slowly started moved toward a seat at the back of the  tent, as the music changed to a wedding march.

Waverly walked in wearing a frilly white dress, her hair all done up nicely. She was gorgeous. Nicole smiled to herself, watching the woman walk down the aisle. She was like some sort of goddess or angel. Nicole couldn’t help but wish that one day she’d marry  a woman as beautiful as Waverly.

Waverly smiled at Perry staring back at her, she couldn’t believe she was really doing this. This was actually happening. She looked at  the people around her , waving at a little girl in a cute dress. Waverly looked through the crowd, catching eyes with a tall red-haired woman. The woman smiled at her, it was a nice friendly warm smile. Waverly didn’t recognize the woman, but a strange warm feeling stirred within her when she made eye contact with her. It was like she knew her somehow, but she didn’t. The woman broke eye contact, suddenly disappearing into the crowd.

Waverly felt odd, trying to re-find her in the crowd, but she was gone. Waverly brought herself back to the moment at hand, at Perry’s adoring eyes upon her, and she walked up to the altar smiling.

“You ready?” Perry whispered, taking her hand.

“Ready as ever.”                                   

-

The wedding was perfect, there wasn’t a single hitch or interruption. Waverly couldn’t believe it, she was really married. She clung to Perry’s hand as they made their way to the reception, which was in a separate tent. The night continued with laughter, kisses, tears and dancing. Waverly began to get tired from  all of the dancing and made her escape to get a drink. While everyone else was dancing the refreshment table was left abandoned.

Waverly was glad for the quiet moment alone. She began drinking some punch, watching everyone dancing away. Admiring Perry from afar, smiling at his dancing. She ran her fingers along her hand, about to toy with her ring, only to find that it wasn’t on her finger.

“Shit.” She put her cup down, beginning to search for her ring. She ducked under the table, wondering if it had rolled under.

“Are you okay down there?” A voice came from behind Waverly.

Waverly’s head banged against the table before she managing to get out from underneath the table. “ Oww ,” she said, rubbing the top of her head.

She turned, seeing the red-haired woman she had spotted when she walked down the aisle standing behind her. The woman cringed as Waverly rubbed her head.

“Are you alright?” Nicole asked again. She had been rather confused to find the bride  crouching under the refreshment table. She hoped Waverly hadn’t hit her head too hard. She offered her hand, helping Waverly up.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Waverly said, taking her hand, standing up. She began smoothing out her dress.

“Other than getting a concussion, what were you doing under the refreshment table? If you’re cheating on your  husband, we’ll keep it between us,” Nicole jokingly whispered.

Waverly laughed. “No I would never, especially on my wedding day, could you imagine?”

“Happens all the time.”

“Well I would never. But I am  sort of a klutz.”

“You fell under the table?”

Waverly showed her ringless hand. “I lost the ring.”

“What?!”

“Please don’t say anything,” Waverly hushed her. “I had it two seconds ago, it has to be somewhere around here. Help me find it?”

“Of course.”

Waverly bent down, checking under the table again. Nicole searched around as well, suddenly spotting the shiny object. “I got it!” she said, picking up the ring.

“Oh, thank you! You’re my saviour,” Waverly chuckled lightly. Nicole tried not to blush. “Could you imagine if I had lost it?” Waverly put out her hand for Nicole to put the ring back on.

Nicole gave Waverly an odd look, but Waverly didn’t notice. “It might be too big, you should look into that. So that you don’t lose it again,” Nicole said, sliding the ring onto her hand, trying not to think about the fact that she was putting a wedding ring on  this woman’s finger.

“Quite right.” Waverly inspected her ring. “Say, I don’t think we’ve ever met before. I’m Waverly.”

“I figured,” Nicole said rather awkwardly. “Um, Nicole. I did your flowers.”

“Oh, Nicole! You work with Wynonna, right?”

“Yeah.”

“She talks about you all the time.”

“She does?”

Waverly nodded. “The flowers look lovely by the way. Lilies are my favourite. I didn’t know Wynonna knew that.”

“Oh, Wynonna didn’t tell me that. I picked them out myself.”

“Lucky guess,” Waverly laughed. “It’s nice  to finally meet you Nicole. Thanks for finding my ring, I owe you big time. I should get back to my wedding. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.”

“Of course. Oh, congratulations and everything.”

“Thanks.” Waverly smiled, giving her a small wave before  returning back to her husband’s side.

“Who was that?” Perry asked, as Waverly watched Nicole leave.

“Oh, that’s Nicole. You know, Wynonna’s friend.”

Perry nodded.

“Funny, I’ve never met her before tonight, but I saw her when I was walking in and I felt like I knew her from somewhere.”

“Strange indeed,” Perry said, giving Waverly a kiss.

 


	3. The Dinner

 

It was one of those slow days at the office and Nicole was plucking away at her paperwork, trying not to dread every minute of it. She stared off into the distance, going into a sort of daze. The clock caught her attention. The second hand moved ever so slowly. It seemed to get stuck at each number and then suddenly spring forward. It made a loud click, and for some odd reason it mesmerized the bored Nicole. She was in so stuck in this daze that she didn’t hear the footsteps approach her desk.

A light coughing sound came from beside her, breaking her out of her trance. Nicole jumped, startled at the sound, looking up to see the one and only Waverly Earp standing next to her, looking beautiful as ever. Waverly was the last person Nicole expected to see today, or, well, ever.

“Sorry to scare you.” Waverly smiled tentatively. She was wearing her typical Shorty’s crop top, and Nicole found herself staring before she reminded herself that Waverly had just gotten married. She probably did not appreciate Nicole staring at her either. “You seemed to be in another world there.”

“Yeah,” Nicole just shook her head. “Sorry, I’m just tired and bored. How can I do to help you?”

“I’m looking for Wynonna, she was supposed to have dinner with Perry and me tonight.”

“She’s out on patrol with Dolls, I’m not sure when they’ll be back.”

Waverly sighed. “She was going to come and see our new place.”

“How’s married life anywa ys?”

“It’s good. I’m lucky, I got to marry my best friend.”

Nicole smiled.

“Oh, thanks again for the flowers . I kept a few.”

“I’m glad you liked them.”

“I feel like I should do something to thank you, especially since you found my ring. I still can’t think what I would have done if I had lost it.”

“Oh you don’t have to do anything to thank me, it was no problem.”

“I insist. I know what, you can come over to dinner tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Perry’s making a big meal  anyways because Wynonna’s coming over. It will be our treat.”

“I don’t…”

Nedley walked out of his office, interrupting the women. “Oh, hello Waverly.” He smiled at the woman.

“Hi Nedley, thank you for the lovely gift.” Waverly smiled back at him.

“It was my pleasure. How’s the husband?”

“Amazing as usual.” Waverly blushed after saying it, realizing the more sexual interpretation of the statement.

Nedley nodded, turning to Nicole. “You can go home early if you want. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be an exciting night tonight.”

“You sure?”

Nedley nodded. “I’m sure your cat already misses you.”

Nicole smiled as Nedley made his way back to his office. “Thanks Nedley.”

“You have a cat?” Waverly asked.

“Calamity Jane.”

“That’s so cute! So what do you say?”

Nicole was confused for a few seconds before remembering Waverly’s offer. “I guess if Wynonna’s coming.”

Waverly smiled. “Great, we can head out now if you want. My jeep’s out back.”

Nicole followed Waverly out. It was pretty usual for Nicole to walk to work so she didn’t have to worry about her truck. Waverly talked a lot as she drove Nicole to her house. She told her all about her plans for her new house. Nicole felt a little awkward all alone in a car with a woman she barely knew, but Waverly’s conversation helped calm her. They finally reached Waverly’s place, jumping out of the jeep and making their way to the house.

“Perry, I’m home,” Waverly called out, opening the door.

“Hey babe,” Perry said, suddenly appearing to give his wife a kiss.

“We have company,” Waverly said, pulling away. “You know Nicole.”

“Oh hey.” Perry shook her hand. “I don’t think we’ve actually met before.”

“No, we haven’t.”

“Nicole arranged our flowers,” Waverly explained.

“Oh, that was you. They were lovely, you did a great job.”

“Thanks.”

“I figured we should thank her by inviting her over for dinner.”

“That was a great idea. Hopefully I don’t burn dinner. Come sit down.”

“Perry’s a great cook,” Waverly told Nicole.

Nicole awkwardly sat down at the dinner table next to Waverly as Perry went to check on the food.

“So is Wynonna still coming over?” Perry asked.

“I hope so,” Waverly said with a distant voice.

“I think it’s good,” Perry said, pulling out their meal from the oven.

“Perry, why don’t you sit down? You’ve done enough work. I can set the table.”

“Alright.” Perry smiled, giving Waverly a kiss before sitting down at the table as Waverly went to get the rest of their dinner ready.

Perry tapped lazily on the table smiling over at Nicole, whose eyes had followed Waverly.

“So do you have a boyfriend?” Perry asked, trying to make small talk.

Nicole laughed, it seemed that she would never hear the end of the question. “Um no…I’m gay, so I don’t like really like men.”

Nicole watched Perry’s face. Like most people he seemed shocked for two seconds, then he seemed to be thinking it over, then smiled awkwardly. “Oh… that’s… that’s great.”

“I mean men are great, but women…” Nicole smiled, glad Perry seemed to be taking it well.

Perry laughed. “I can understand that.”

Waverly returned, setting the plates down on the table.

“What are you two talking about?” she asked.

“How beautiful you are,” Perry said, cupping Waverly’s face to give her a kiss on the cheek.

Nicole blushed, looking away from the couple.

Waverly shoved her elbow into Perry, mumbling something to Perry about making Nicole feel uncomfortable. A knock came from the door and the group looked up as the knocking continued.

“It’s probably Wynonna,” Waverly  stated , walking towards the door.

Waverly opened it and sure enough it was Wynonna, awkwardly holding a bottle of wine. “Sorry I’m late.” Wynonna held up the bottle as though it was her apology.

“It’s okay,” Waverly said, taking the bottle.

“Hey Wynonna. Come join the party,” Perry called out

“Party?” Wynonna asked, throwing off her large coat before noticing Nicole. “Hot-stuff! What are you doing here?”

“I invited her over to thank her for helping with the wedding,” Waverly explained as Wynonna sat down.

“That’s nice of you. So what’s for dinner?”

“Perry made it,” Waverly said, placing the food down on the table.

Nicole and Wynonna observed their meal, some sort of casserole dish. Perry explained it as they dug in, it was surprisingly very good.

A light conversation began through the meal, they talked about work and Perry and Waverly’s life as a  newly-wed couple.

“So Nicole, you hadn’t met Waverly before the wedding?” Perry asked randomly.

“Well, I saw Waverly in passing at Shorty’s, but we were never formally introduced, why?”

“Oh, it’s just something Waverly said. What did you say?” Perry turned to Waverly, who looked slightly confused. “About how when you saw Nicole, you felt like you knew her, even though you had never met her. Funny, isn’t it?”

“It was just some silly notion,” Waverly waved it off. Wynonna raised her eyebrow, intrigued by the idea.

“Maybe you two knew each other in a past life,” Perry suggested.

“I don’t know if there’s such a thing,” Nicole commented.

“You’re not willing to give past lives a chance?” Wynonna asked.

Nicole just shook her head.

“I think I’m going to start to clean up,” Waverly said suddenly.

“Babe, you don’t have to,” Perry said.

“No, it’s okay. We’re done eating anyway s.”

“So you really don’t believe in past lives?” Perry asked Nicole as Waverly walked off, taking her plate to the sink.

As Perry continued the conversation in Waverly’s absence, Wynonna seemed to butt heads with Perry a bit, the begins of a heated conversation started and Nicole wanted no part of it so she snuck off with the excuse that she was going to help Waverly with the dishes.

“Need some help?” Nicole asked Waverly.

“Um sure, you can wash.”

Nicole nodded, rolling up her sleeves before getting to work.

“Do you think we knew each other in a past life?” Nicole asked suddenly.

Waverly laughed as though it was a stupid idea. “I know it sounds stupid, but when I saw you it did feel  like I knew you somehow. I don’t know if that means we had some sort of past life or something. It does seem rather silly.”

Nicole just nodded, not sure what to say.

“Maybe it just means that we’re destined to be good friends or something.” Waverly smiled.

Nicole snorted softly, not sure why someone like Waverly ever want to be friends with her. “Who knows?” Nicole said,suddenly wishing that Waverly was right and they could be connected in some sort of way.

-

 

After they finished doing the dishes, Waverly and Nicole found that Wynonna and Perry were indeed having a heated conversation. Waverly sighed, she hated that they were having an argument while a guest was over.  

“Do you want a tour of the house?” Waverly asked Nicole.

“Sure,” Nicole agreed.

Waverly smiled excitedly, more than happy to show Nicole around the house. As Waverly showed her around and explained their plans with the place, Nicole couldn’t help but be impressed. Waverly led her to the back balcony, sliding open the doors to outside. Nicole followed her out into the quiet night.

“It’s a  really nice place, Waverly.”

“You should have seen how Wynonna and I cleaned up our childhood home.” Waverly said as she hugged her arms around herself, looking up at the sky. “It looks like it’s going to rain.” She shivered slightly.

“Maybe we should go back inside, before you get wet and cold.”

“I like the rain. Besides, we won’t get wet.” Waverly pointed to the overhang above their heads. “You’ve been here for a year now, right?”

“A little over.”

“How do you like Purgatory?”

“It’s good.”

Waverly shivered again.

“You’re freezing, at least take my sweater,” Nicole said, already taking off her sweater.

“Thanks,” Waverly said as Nicole handed it to her. Waverly quickly wrapped it around herself. “You know, with how much Wynonna talks about you, I’m surprised she never introduced us to you.”

“I’m honestly surprised that Wynonna talks about me at all.”

Waverly laughed lightly. “We talk about everything.”

Nicole leaned against the railing, looking out into the night. She still felt a little awkward around  Waverly, and wasn’t sure what to say. The silence was definitely not helping the awkward feeling. “So how are you and Perry?”

“Great, things are wonderful … Do you believe in soulmates?” Waverly asked.

Nicole thought about it. “I don’t know.”

Waverly nodded. “Sometimes I wonder if I and Perry are soulmates. I love him, I really do. He’s my best friend. But it wasn’t love at first sight, you know.”

Nicole nodded. “Love at first sight is overrated.”

Waverly laughed lightly, leaning against the railing.

“Waverly, I think it’s time your sister went home,” Perry’s voice came from downstairs.

“Coming, Per,” Waverly yelled back.

“I guess it’s getting late,” Waverly said as she turned to walk back inside, and Nicole followed her.

“I swear I didn’t do anything,” Wynonna told Waverly as the two women walked down the stairs.

“Did you two at least have a nice time?” Perry asked, pulling Waverly to his side.

Waverly nodded. “I feel like we’re destined to be good friends,” Waverly whispered to him as Nicole headed to the door with Wynonna.

“Don’t suppose you could lend me a ride back?” Nicole asked Wynonna.

“If you don’t mind hopping on the back of my bike.”

“I don’t mind, as long as you’re not drunk.”

“I had barley had one glass Nicole,  sheesh .”

“Thanks for the lovely meal,” Nicole thanked Waverly and Perry.

“Thanks for coming.” Waverly smiled at Nicole.

“Let’s go, Officer Haught.” Wynonna bopped Nicole.

“Um, I need my sweater,” Nicole told Waverly

Waverly laughed in embarrassment, having forgotten that the sweater was still wrapped around her. She took it off and handed it to Nicole. “Right, of course, can’t forget that.”

“Thanks again,” Nicole thanked the couple. “It was really nice.”

“Well, we’ll have to do it again sometime,” Perry suggested.

Waverly nodded as though loving the idea.

“Yeah, sure,” Nicole said awkwardly.

“Make sure you have a safe drive,” Perry told them, holding the door open.

Wynonna gave Waverly a quick hug and they waved goodbye before heading out for the night.

 


	4. The Party

 

“Do we need butter?” Waverly asked Perry while they were out shopping at the grocery store.

“ Hmm ?” Perry hadn’t heard Waverly, too distracted by what he was reading on his phone.

“I’ll put it in the cart.”

The two continued their wanderings down the aisles. Waverly was reminiscing about their dinner from a few nights ago, she couldn’t help but wonder if Nicole found the whole past lives comment a bit creepy. Waverly hoped she didn’t find it creepy. She began wondering if she should apologize or something. As she was lost in her thoughts, the very same woman she was thinking about appeared only a few feet away from her.

“Hey, there’s Nicole.” Waverly bumped Perry with her elbow.

Perry looked up, noticing Nicole as well.

“Should we say hi?” Waverly asked.

“Sure.” Perry shrugged.

“Nicole!” Waverly called out, waving at the redhead.

Nicole was out shopping with Jeremy when she heard her name. She turned her head, spotting Waverly waving at her. Nicole waved back awkwardly, not sure why Waverly was being all friendly.

“Is that Waverly?” Jeremy asked her, tossing some granola bars into Nicole’s basket.

“You’re paying for that with your own money,” Nicole commented as Waverly began to walk towards them.

“Hey Nicole, what are you doing here? That was a stupid question, you’re clearly buying food.” Waverly laughed.

“That is what I’m doing.” Nicole smiled back.

“Hi,” Jeremy waved.

“Waverly, Perry, this is Jeremy,” Nicole introduced.

“Well, fancy meeting you here,” Perry commented.

“Yeah, thanks again for dinner .”

“It was our pleasure. We really should do it again sometime,” Waverly said.

“Sure.”

“Well, it was nice bumping into you, Nicole. We should go on our way, we have shopping to do, you know. We’ll leave you to your own shopping.”

Nicole laughed at Waverly nodding her head.

“See you around.” She waved goodbye as Waverly and Perry went along their way, arms linked together.

“She’s very friendly, I can see why everyone likes her,” Jeremy commented, watching Nicole’s eyes trail after Waverly. “She’s not that bad looking either.”

“She’s married, Jeremy,” Nicole told him as she continued on with her shopping.

“That didn’t stop you from checking her out.”

“Shut up Jeremy.”

“Funny running into Nicole here. I was just thinking about her. Do you think that guy was her boyfriend?”

Perry laughed sharply at the comment. “Actually,  funny thing... Nichole’s gay.”

“What, how do you know this? Why didn’t Wynonna tell us?”

“Yeah, Nicole told me at dinner the other night.”

“She never mentioned anything to me.”

“I guess it never came up.”

As they continued walking Perry noticed Nicole up ahead of them.

“Oh, there she is again. Nicole!”

Nicole looked over, shocked to see the couple again.

“Hi again,” Perry laughed as they walked over to her.

“Hey.” Nicole laughed awkwardly.

“We were just talking about you.” Waverly closed her eyes in embarrassment after she blurted out the words.

“Really?”

“Don’t worry, we didn’t say anything bad,” Perry added. “We were just discussing when a good time to have another dinner would be. What would be a good day for you?”

“Oh, ah, I would have to look at my calendar,” Nicole stuttered out, shocked that they were actually serious about inviting her over again.

“Maybe we could exchange phone numbers and you could text me a good day?” Waverly suggested.

“That’s a great idea,” Perry smiled along.

“ Ahh , okay,” Nicole said, pulling out her phone and they exchanged phone numbers.

“So I guess I’ll see you around,” Waverly said after.

“Definitely” Nicole smiled.

“Have a good day Nicole.”

“You as well.”

Perry gave a wave before heading away with Waverly.

“Why don’t I get to go to a dinner?” Jeremy asked.

Nicole and Jeremy began putting their items down on the checkout counter, when Jeremy poked Nicole, gesturing to Waverly and Perry only a checkout lane away.

“I swear we’re not stalking you,” Waverly called out.

“You sure you’re not?” Nicole laughed back.

Jeremy waved excitedly at the couple.

“You promise to text me a date that you’re free for dinner?” Waverly asked.

“Promise,” Nicole nodded.

“Okay good.” Waverly smiled. “I look forward to it. I hope you have a good day, we’re leaving for good this time.”

“Have a good day, Nicole,” Perry said, linking arms with his wife.

-

Nicole was sitting in her home watching one of her favourite shows with Calamity Jane curled up on her lap when her phone buzzed.  

She picked it up, shocked to see that it was Waverly who had texted her.

_ “Hey, so what day works for you for dinner?” _ The text message read.

Oh right, Waverly wanted to invite Nicole over for dinner again. Dinner with her and her husband.

_ “You’re not trying to avoid me, are you?”  _ Waverly texted Nicole.

Nicole laughed slightly, feeling a bit bad, because she was  kind of trying to avoid Waverly. The girl was beautiful and amazing, and Nicole was pretty sure she had a crush on her. But she couldn’t crush on her, not while Waverly was married.

_ “Sorry,”  _ Nicole texted back. _ “You know how work is, it’s hard to plan anything. I guess I could do this Friday.” _

_ “That works perfect,” _ Waverly texted back. _ “Say six?” _

_ “Yeah, sounds good. Should I bring anything?” _

_ “No need. See you then.” _ Waverly added a smiling face to the end of the message. Nicole smiled at it, suddenly feeling rather anxious about the whole thing.

“What am I getting myself into, Calamity Jane?” she asked, petting her cat.

-

 

Nicole stood awkwardly in front of the new Earp-Crofte house. She held a small succulent plant in her hands, a little unsure about knocking on the door.

Finally she managed to work herself up to knocking on the door. Waverly opened it smiling widely at Nicole. Nicole felt like her breath had been taken right out of her, suddenly forgetting how to talk.

“Nicole!” Waverly suddenly hugged Nicole, breaking away a bit too quickly for Nicole’s taste.

“You brought a plant?” Waverly inquired, staring at the plant in Nicole’s hands.

“It’s a succulent,” Nicole explained simply. “Plants make good housewarming gifts.”

“How sweet.” Waverly smiled, taking the plant from Nicole, welcoming Nicole into the house. “Perry, look what Nicole got us.”

“That’s a cute little plant.” Perry smiled.

“It’s a succulent,” Waverly told him. “I’m going to put it by the window.”

Waverly left, leaving Nicole standing awkwardly next to Perry.

“So how’s work?” Perry asked.

Nicole welcomed the topic to break the silence, beginning to get into all about her work.

Waverly returned and they moved to the table, eating their meal. Nicole felt awkward throughout the whole meal, but light chatter about work managed to calm her nerves slightly. But quickly everyone had finished the meal, and Perry left Nicole alone with Waverly as he told them he would do the dishes. Nicole wanted to tell him not to leave. With the way her heart was beating inside her chest, she wasn’t sure she could be trusted alone with Waverly.  _ Why was she like this? She didn’t even know  _ _ Waverly. _

“So are you seeing anyone?” Waverly asked.

“No,” Nicole admits.

“Um,” Waverly shifts a bit in her chair, looking over to where Perry is. “Perry tells me you’re gay.” Waverly says it lightly, like she’s trying really hard to be casual. Nicole doesn’t mind. “Oh, maybe he shouldn’t have told me that.” Waverly looks apologetic, like she might have done something wrong.

“It’s okay. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything,” Nicole says. “And I am.”

Waverly nods. “Is it hard? I mean in a small town and all.”

“I grew up in a small town, so I’m used to it. And my parents weren’t really accepting of the whole thing, so…”

“I’m sorry.”

Nicole shrugs. “Things are better now. At least now I can be who I am. I don’t care what other people say and think.”

Waverly smiles at that. “I’ve let what others think of me influence me a bit too much, I think.” She laughs lightly, like she doesn’t really want to think about it. “I can’t imagine finding someone to date in Purgatory is easy.”

Nicole almost snorts at that. “Yeah. It’s going to be hard.”

“Well if you ever need a wing-woman.” Waverly smiles and Nicole wishes that she could just calm her racing heart. She really did want to be friends with  Waverly, why did stupid feelings have to make things confusing and complicated?

“I’m sure your sister would love to go to a bar with us.”

Waverly nods. “Well I would love to spend more time with you in the future. Like I said before, I feel like we’re going to be great friends.”

“Right.” Nicole laughs nervously, as Waverly places her hand on top of hers. She can feel Waverly staring at her, like she’s trying to figure her out, and Nicole can’t help but feel exposed.

Perry returns and Waverly removes her hand. “So Nicole, are you going to be staying for dessert?”

“I should probably get going,” Nicole tells him. In truth, she doesn’t really want to stay anymore.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Waverly says, standing up. “I’m throwing a sort of surprise birthday party for Wynonna. She didn’t exactly want a party, but I’m throwing her one anyway. I’m sure she’d love it if you were there.”

“Oh, that sounds fun.” Nicole could imagine Wynonna’s reaction to a surprise party for a birthday she didn’t want to celebrate. “I’ll definitely be there.”

“Great.” Waverly gave Nicole the date, time and address, explaining her party idea before sending her on her way.

-

 

Nicole carried her tightly-wrapped present under her arm as she walked into Shorty’s. The music was already playing, the lights dim, streamers hung from the ceiling, and a few guests had already arrived.

“Nicole!” Waverly ran up to Nicole, taking the present from her. “Wynonna’s on her way. Do you think she’ll like it?” Waverly asked, looking up at the streamers.

“I’m sure she’ll love it. She might not say so, but she’ll love it.”

Waverly smiled, setting Nicole’s present down with the others.

Nicole wandered towards the group of people. Jeremy waved at her and she went to go sit next to him.

“What are you doing here?”

Jeremy shrugged. “I think Waverly had a hard time finding Wynonna’s friends.”

Nicole hummed as more people began to walk in. Waverly ran back and forth, making sure everything was perfect.

The door to the pub opened and Wynonna walked in.

“Happy birthday!” everyone yelled out as she walked in.

Wynonna laughed awkwardly, looking around at the decorations.

Waverly ran over, giving her sister a big hug. “Happy birthday sis.”

“I hate you, there better be booze.”

Waverly just sighed at her sister’s reaction, knowing that deep down inside she really did appreciate it all.

The partying began with lots of drinking all around. The  few gues ts chatted lightly amongst themselves, each sending their warm birthday wishes to Wynonna.

Waverly was laughing and smiling the whole time, watching her sister enjoying her party. Waverly’s eyes drifted over to Nicole, she wasn’t sure why she felt a sort of connection to her but she did. She tapped her sister on the shoulder, telling her that she should open her presents. Wynonna jumped up all excited. Waverly just rolled her eyes.

“And you said you didn’t want a party,” she muttered to herself.

Everyone huddled around Wynonna as she began choosing the first present she wanted to open.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” Waverly asked Nicole, pointing to the empty seat next to her.

“Oh, of course.” Nicole said. She wondered why Waverly didn’t want to sit next to Perry.

With the dim lights Waverly was beginning to space out. She glanced at Nicole beside her, who was laughing at Wynonna’s presents. She had a cute laugh. Waverly smiled, relaxing a bit. Nicole’s hand rested only a few centimeters from her own. She found herself wondering what it would be like to kiss a  girl, if it would be all soft and sweet. Nicole shifted slightly, her hand brushing against Waverly’s.

“Sorry,” Nicole apologized quickly.

“It’s okay,” Waverly said as an electric current raced through her.

The group dispersed after Wynonna finished opening presents, grabbing some more drinks and food.

Waverly found herself still sitting next to Nicole.

“It was a really nice party,” Nicole commented.

“Thanks,” Waverly responded, watching Wynonna drink  shots with the guys.

Nicole followed Waverly’s line of sight to Wynonna, smiling to herself at the crazy woman. “I think it’s really cool how close you guys are. Wynonna really seems to care for you.”

“Sometimes she can be a bit overprotective, but I appreciate it. In all honesty I’m kind of scared of losing her now that I’m with Perry.”

“That won’t happen.” Nicole shook her head, with assurance. “You can’t break a bond like the one you guys have.”

“I really appreciate moments like these, we didn’t have the best life growing up. And now I just want everything to be  perfect, as though that could make up for all of it.”

Waverly felt a tear slide down her check, not even sure why she was getting emotional  all of a sudden . She quickly wiped it away with her arm,  hoping Nicole wouldn’t notice. Nicole had noticed though, she hated seeing the sudden change in attitude, and wished to see Waverly happy and cheerful once again. Nicole took Waverly’s hand into her own, not sure what to say.

“I’m sorry Nicole. I don’t know what’s come over me.” Waverly smiled a bit, still wiping tears from her eyes.

“It’s okay,” Nicole reassured her with a smile.

“You’re a really nice person.”

Out of the corner of her eye Nicole could see Perry waking over. Waverly looked up as Perry was suddenly at their sides.

“Perry,” she said, jumping a bit, letting her hand slide from Nicole’s.

Nicole suddenly felt very awkward, like she shouldn’t have been the one to comfort her when Perry was right there.

“Hey babe, you okay?” Perry asked, noticing Waverly’s wet eyes.

“Oh,” Waverly laughed it off like it was nothing. “It’s nothing babe, don’t worry. Nicole was just telling me this really funny story.”

“Okay?” Perry nodded, though he sounded unconvinced.

“I should get going,” Nicole said, standing up.

“Already?” Waverly asked.

“It’s getting late, work tomorrow.”

Waverly nodded.

“Have a good night Nicole.” Perry smiled, one arm around Waverly.

“Thanks again Nicole.” Waverly said quietly.

“No problem. See you around.”

Waverly nodded before Nicole began heading out for the night, wishing Wynonna a quick happy birthday before leaving the bar.

 


	5. A Night Out

 

Waverly was starting to notice Nicole more and more as she walked through town. She wondered how she had never noticed Nicole before her wedding; Nicole was distinctive enough that Waverly was sure if she had seen her she would have recognized her. But obviously that wasn’t true, because Nicole said shehad come into Shorty’s while Waverly was working before her wedding.

One evening while Waverly was working at Shorty’s again, Waverly noticed Nicole come in and she waved at the woman, cleaning up the counters quickly with intentions to go talk with Nicole for a bit. But as she began to walk over to where Nicole was now sitting, she noticed that Nicole was sitting across from another woman, smiling and laughing away with her. Waverly decided not to interrupt just in case Nicole was on a date with the other woman.

 

Meanwhile Waverly was trying to adjust to her newly married life to Perry. Things were good and it was nice, it wasn’t anything Waverly hadn’t expected. Perry worked most days, coming home late and leaving early in the morning with a simple kiss on the check. Waverly began to find herself quite lonely. The house was so quiet without anyone around, and the place didn’t feel like home quite yet. And even when Perry was home, there just wasn’t that spark between them that Waverly expected there to be when they were married. But she couldn’t complain. Things were nice, and she couldn’t imagine them any better.

-

 

“You should go hang out with Wynonna tomorrow,” Perry suggested one night. He felt bad for how much work was taking up his time. He hadn’t been spending lots of time with Waverly, and he didn’t like the idea ofher spending time in the house all by herself night after night. “I’m sure you could just pop by the station.”

“I don’t want to bother her while she’s at work.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. You could say hi to Nicole while you’re there.”

“Why would I say hi to Nicole?”

“I thought you two were supposed to be best of friends?”

“I don’t know. That was just me spilling mumble-jumbo,” Waverly muttered.

“She seems nice, maybe you should offer to take her out for coffee or something.”

“I don’t even know her, Perry.”

“But you knew her in a past life,” Perry teased.

“Perry,” Waverly whined, feeling rather embarrassed that she had ever said such a thing.

“You just seemed so sure you were going to be good friends.”

“I don’t even know if she likes me.”

“Who could not like you?” Perry asked with a teasing kiss.

Waverly shoved Perry off of her playfully. “Are we still having our fancy dinner on Saturday?”

Perry gave a thumbs up and Waverly smiled, happy at the idea of a romantic dinner out.

-

 

Saturday came and Waverly couldn’t be more excited about going out for the night with Perry. She was hovering in front of her closet, determining what she wanted to wear.

“Shit!” Perry yelled out from the living room.

“What is it Per?” Waverly asked, walking into the living room.

Perry looked up from his phone, looking annoyed. “Fucking work. Something’s come up. I’m sorry Waverly, I’m going to have to cancel our dinner.”

“What? No.” Waverly was a bit confused, as Perry picked up his work stuff. “But we’ve been planning this for weeks. You promised.”

“I’m sorry babe. I have to go into the office.”

“But today’s your day off,” She repeated.

“Work apparently doesn’t care,” Perry said, giving his stuff a hateful toss on the ground.

Waverly sunk into the couch. They had been looking forward to this night out, it was supposed to be a special evening for just the two of them, and now it was cancelled, just like that. Waverly couldn’t help but be disappointed.

Through her sadness, shescrolled through her contact list lazily, briefly thinking about texting Wynonna to rant to her. She knew that Wynonna would be sympathetic, but didn’t really care for Waverly’s relationship stories.

Waverly continued scrolling through her phone contacts, seeing Nicole’s name glowing on her screen. Her finger hovered above the screen before clicking it, suddenly calling the number. It dialed and Waverly had no clue what to do, maybe Nicole wouldn’t pick up. Why had she even called her anyway?

“Hey.” The voice over the phone made Waverly jump. “Hello?”

Waverly hung up suddenly without a second thought. Why had she done that?

“Who was that?” Perry asked, having overheard the voice.

“I don’t know,” Waverly lied. “They hung up before I could tell.”

Perry grabbed Waverly’s phone.

“Perry.” Waverly desperately tried to grab the phone back.

Before Waverly could grab her phone back, her phone began ringing.

“It’s Nicole.” Perry was already picking it up before Waverly could say anything.

“Perry please.” Before Waverly could stop him he was already calling Nicole back.

 

Nicole’s phone had rang, vibrating against her table. Nicole picked up wondering why in hell Waverly Earp would be calling her. She would have just ignored it if she wasn’t worried that something might be the matter. Waverly could be in trouble and calling her for the simple fact that Nicole was a cop. That’s why she decided to call her back, just in case of the worse.

“Hello?” Nicole said over the phone.

“Hey Nicole,” A male voice came from the other end, Nicole recognized it as Perry’s.

“Hi Perry, why are do you have Waverly’s phone?”

“Well, it’s just that Waverly and I were supposed to go out tonight but something came up. I was wondering if you could take her somewhere fun for me.”

“Perry,” Waverly hissed at Perry back at their house, still struggling to grab her phone back.

“What?” Nicole was confused by Perry’s random suggestion.

“I just don’t want her to be all alone on a beautiful night like tonight.”

“Perry, I don’t know…”

“Come on Nicole, what do you say, can you take care of my girl for me? Please?”

Nicole felt a little pressured into the whole thing. She gave out a long sigh, she had nothing better to do. “Um, sure,” she said, not even sure what she was agreeing to.

“Great, when can you come and pick her up?”

“I’m off of work in an hour, give me some time to change.”

“So an hour and a half!” Perry sounded excited, Nicole couldn’t back out now. “Thanks Nicole,” Perry said, hanging up the phone.

“What the heck, Perry!” Waverly shouted at him.

“Come on, you’ll have fun.”

“I can’t believe you did that.”

“It will be fun.”

“Perry!”

“Promise me you’ll have fun.”

Waverly groaned. “Fine, but don’t do something like that again.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go to work now, okay babe? I love you.” Perry went to give Waverly a kiss on the lips. Waverly, however, still being mad at Perry, turned her head. Perry sighed, settling for a simple kiss on the cheek.

-

 

Nicole sat in her truck in front of Waverly’s house, having no clue what she was doing there. She had changed into something a bit more presentable as she tried to figure out what she and Waverly could do tonight. Nicole breathed in deep, telling herself to get out of the truck. Somehow this managed to propel herself to the front door, knocking on the door. She was incredibly nervous, she felt like she was going on a date or something. She had to get that idea out of her mind, this wasn’t a date. Waverly was married.

Waverly opened the door, looking stunning as always. Nicole somehow managed to keep herself together.

“Hey Nicole,” Waverly said awkwardly, opening the door to let her in.

“Hey,” Nicole said, running her fingers through her hair.

“I’m sorry about Perry,” Waverly apologized. “I don’t know what got into his mind.”

“It’s okay. It’s cute that he doesn’t want your night to go to waste.”

Waverly just hummed. “I’m still a little pissed. So do you have something planned?”

“Do you like hockey?” Nicole asked a little tentatively.

-

 

“Come on number nine, you can do better than that!” Waverly screamed at the top of her lungs as the men in front of them banged hard against the glass.

Nicole laughed to herself, she did notexpect Waverly to get this into hockey.

Waverly laughed a bit, blushing a little, perhaps a bit embarrassed about her aggressiveness. “I used to date Champ Hardy when he was the captain of the hockey team.”

“Wynonna did mention that you used to date him. I didn’t really believe her at the time.”

“It was a stupid high school mistake.”

“Was it a bad boy thing?” Nicole asked, still laughing at the idea of the perfect Waverly dating a guy like Champ.

“He wasn’t bad, maybe a little dense. It was more of a popularity thing. To fit in, you know.” Waverly didn’t give a moment for Nicole to respond before continuing to rant. “Perry used to play hockey in high school. He actually wanted to be a hockey player but his parents didn’t see a future in it.”

“That’s stupid. You should just do what you want with your life. Who cares what your parents think?”

“But I mean hockey is pretty dangerous, and unless you’re like super good, you don’t make that much money doing it.”

“But what if it’s what you love?”

“I don’t think Perry loved it, not really.”

“Well I’m just saying in general. Shouldn’t you pursue something that you love, no matter what other people say?”

Waverly hummed to herself, as though thinking it over. “But what if it’s not the best fit?”

“But what if it’s what you’re meant to be pursuing? Are you really going to give it up, and spend your life wondering how things would have been better if you went for it?”

“Everyone has regrets, everyone wonders what life would be like if they did something differently, that doesn’t mean it was meant to be.”

“I don’t know,” Nicole said, still determined on her point of view.

“Guess we just have different opinions on the matter,” Waverly settled.

“Guess so.”

“Oh come on, how could you miss that?!” Waverly yelled, suddenly back into the game, already forgetting about their small disagreement.

Nicole joined in with Waverly’s shouting, getting back to being invested in the game. The two continued their shouting causing the men in front of them to glare at them, which only made Waverly shout more. Nicole burst out into fits of laughter at Waverly’s sudden aggressiveness, only slightly wanting to calm her down. Waverly was clearly having a fun time though, and Nicole didn’t want to ruin that. She never would have guessed that Waverly had this side to her.

-

 

“That was an exciting game,” Waverly commented after the game was over, as they headed out into the night.

Nicole nodded, realizing that it was still quite early in the night. “Do you want to call it a night?”

“There’s still lots of time left. Maybe we could grab a drink?”

“If we’re getting drunk, I’m dropping off my truck back at the station.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The two dropped Nicole’s truck off at the police station before walking down the streets of the town. Waverly led the way to a bar that she knew had karaoke. She grinned at Nicole before entering.

“Oh no, nuh-uh.” Nicole shook her head.

“Come on,” Waverly giggled, already pulling Nicole in.

“No way.” Nicole shook her head. Waverly was surprisingly strong for being so small.

“You’re supposed to be taking me out for a night of fun,” Waverly pouted.

“Fine,” Nicole caved to Waverly’s puppy eyes.

The two girls found a place to sit, quickly ordering some drinks. Nicole watched the current people singing on the little stage in the center of the bar.

“You have to sing with me,” Waverly demanded of Nicole.

Nicole shook her head. “No way.”

“You have to,” Waverly pouted.

Nicole continued shaking her head, there was no way she was singing in front of a group of strangers.

“Too bad, I’m signing us up,” Waverly grinned, running over to the person in charge of the karaoke.

Nicole groaned as the waitress returned with their drinks, which Nicole quickly drank back. If she was really going to sing, there was no way she was going to do it sober.Besides, she knew full well she couldn’t say no to Waverly.

“What song did you choose?” Nicole asked when Waverly returned.

“You’ll see.”

“You’re going to have me find out when I’m standing up there?”

Waverly nodded.

“Great.” Nicole downed another drink, mentally preparing herself for later.

 

Nicole watched some more people sing away on the stage, most drunk. She continued drinking, making light chatter with Waverly, who was drinking back her own drinks quite fast, till their turn came up.

“It’s us,” Waverly said, taking one last sip and pulling Nicole up to the stage with her.

Nicole stood awkwardly next to Waverly, hating everyone’s eyes on her. The notes of the song began to play and Nicole immediately recognized it.

“You chose Baby It's Cold Outside?”

Waverly nodded, snapping her fingers along to the music.

“You chose a Christmas song?”

Waverly nodded, pushing Nicole with her elbow as the words popped up. Nicole got the memo quickly, singing along with the female part. Waverly joined along, singing rather beautifully to the male part.

Waverly was having a blast, swaying her hips to the music. She was getting really into it with the alcohol moving through her. Waverly danced around Nicole, putting action to the lyrics. When she sang out I’ll take your hands, she gripped Nicole’s hands into her own. Nicole looked at her withslight shock, as the electricity raced through them.

Nicole watched, fascinated, entranced by Waverly who seemed lost within the performance. Waverly followed the lyrics, pretending to take Nicole’s invisible hat, and moving in closer. The worst was when it came to the line, gosh, your lips look delicious. Nicole’s heart raced as Waverly pulled her face a little closer, the second time, just barely tracing her fingers on the edge of Nicole’s lips. Nicole didn’t know what to do, she just stood there stunned, looking like an idiot. She even skipped one of her lines, too stunned by it all. By the end of the song Waverly had jumped into Nicole’s arms giggling away as the crowd cheered rather loudly for them. Apparently they had put on quite the show.

“That was fun.” Waverly smiled, breaking away from Nicole.

Nicole nodded, trying to calm herself by running her fingers through her hair. She wasn’t really sure what exactly had just happened. “I should probably get you back home now.”

Waverly gave a sad pout but nodded. They paid for their bill and pulled on their coats before wandering along the streets of Purgatory.

-

 

“Tell me a fun fact about you,” Waverly said, swaying as she walked.

“I’m not very exciting,” Nicole told her.

“Of course you are. I’m sure there’slot of exciting things about you. You’re a cop, that’s cool. You have a cat, that’s like too totally awesome. And you managed to make it on Wynonna’s friend list, so that’s an accomplishment.”

“I suppose it is,” Nicole laughed.

“Come on, tell me something fun,” Waverly pouted.

“I depressingly know the meaning behind all flowers.”

“What?” Waverly laughed.

“That’s why Wynonna made me doyour flowers.”

“Really? Prove it.”

“You don’t believe me?”

Waverly shook her head. Nicole began listing off some of the classics before Waverly interrupted her.

“What about the lily?”

“Huh?”

“What does the lily mean?”

“I don’t know if this is true or not. A girl I used to date told me this, and I don’t know how reliable she is.”

“Come on, lilies are my favourite. Now tell me, what do they mean?”

“Um, they mean… I dare you to love me.”

Waverly paused at the statement, she turned, finding Nicole staring back at her. Maybe it was the alcohol, but the world seemed to slow. Waverly saw Nicole in a new light, she wondered what it would be like if she leaned in and kissed her. She looked so gorgeous, and those lips. Waverly didn’t even realize she was leaning forward. Nicole’s breath stopped somewhere in her throat, as Waverly began leaning closer to her. But then suddenly Waverly stopped herself, quickly blinking herself out of her daze.

“Thanks for tonight, it was great. It was my birthday,” Waverly blurted out suddenly.

“What?” Nicole said, shaking herself from her own daze, for it had seemed as though Waverly had just been about to kiss her.

“I’m joking, my birthday was a few weeks ago.” Waverly began walking, suddenly a lot faster than before, Nicole had to pick up her paceto catch up with her.  

With Waverly’s new pace it didn’t take long until they were standing in front of Waverly’s house. “Well, this is me,” Waverly said, walking up to her front door. “Um…thanks again Nicole, this was really fun.”

“Yeah, I had fun too. We should do it again sometime.”

“Yeah,” Waverly agreed, a smile on her face, trying to ignore her racing heart.

 


	6. A Dream

 

“Have you ever thought about dating a girl?” Waverly asked Wynonna tentatively when she was over for dinner later that week.

“I guess.” Wynonna shrugged. “There was this sort of thing I had with this one girl.”

“What?!”

“It was fun.”

“ Umm …” Waverly tried  not to focus too much on the fact that her sister might have just told her she had a thing with a woman one time. “Would you ever do it again?”

“Maybe. I mean women are attractive as fuck.”

“Right,” Waverly said slowly.

“You got to try it once, right?”

“Sure.” Waverly wasn’t sure she agreed with that.

Waverly heard Perry shuffle around in the kitchen. “I’m just going to use the washroom quickly,” Waverly told Wynonna.

Perry came over to the table, watching Waverly leave. “Does she seem off to you?” Perry asked Wynonna.

“What?”

“Waverly, she seems distant lately. Like her head is elsewhere. Maybe it’s my fault, I’ve been away at work a lot. We haven’t really been having sex much.”

“ Eww , I do not need to know that. Look if you’re worried about Waverly, maybe you should talk to her about it. Isn’t that what couples do?” Wynonna suggested.

-

 

“Are you pregnant?” Perry asked at dinner later that week.

“What?!” Waverly said, almost dropping the dish she was holding.

“Sorry, it’s just that you’ve been acting funny.”

“I’ve been acting funny, so you assumed I was pregnant?” Waverly asked, wondering how Perry had jumped to that conclusion.

“Sorry. It was a stupid question I shouldn’t have asked, it’s not like we’ve been having much sex anyway. I’m sorry I’m never around.”

“Per, it’s fine. You have work, and work is important.”

“Do you want to get pregnant?”

“What?”

Perry shrugged.

“ Umm , I don’t…”

“Maybe you’re right, feels a bit too soon. You know what, we should go out for dinner tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to go out for dinner,” Waverly grumbled quietly, she was feeling lazy and going out for dinner felt like too much work.

“We should, it will be romantic.”

“Couldn’t we just stay in and be romantic?”

“Come on Waverly," Perry said, wrapping her tightly into a hug.  “ Don’t you want a romantic evening out?”

Waverly grumbled some  more, though she was beginning to cave. Perry was right in the fact that they hadn’t had much time together recently.

“Come on, we’re going to go out tomorrow and have a romantic dinner,” Perry stated sternly.

“Okay.” Waverly smiled, beginning  to really like the idea.

-

 

Waverly began to space out while at Shorty’s, the evening had been quite slow and she allowed her mind wander.

“Earth to Waverly.”

Waverly snapped out of her daze, shocked to see Nicole across from her at the bar. She was smiling at  her, as though she was amused by Waverly.

“Hey Nicole.” Waverly smiled, happy to see the woman.

She did feel a little embarrassed though seeing the other woman, they hadn’t talked since Nicole took her out. Waverly still remembered how she  acted, and remembered being a little tipsy.

Nicole smiled back, her dimples showing. Waverly was caught up in how cute her dimples looked, she was glad that Nicole wasn’t awkward around her, especially with how she acted last time.

“How can I help you?” Waverly asked, gesturing to the various drinks.

“I’m on the job right now.” Nicole gestured to her outfit. Waverly silently cursed herself for not realizing that Nicole was in uniform. She wore the uniform well. “I’m supposed to ask around and see if anyone has seen this man.” Nicole shuffled a picture out of her pocket.

Waverly looked at the picture of the man, not recognizing him. “Sorry, no.”

“ Ahh , it was worth a shot.” Nicole sighed, shoving the picture back away.

“What’s this for anyway ?” Waverly asked.

“Confidential.”

Waverly nodded.

“You okay?” Nicole asked, noticing that Waverly seemed a little less chatty than normal.

“Fine.” Waverly flashed her signature smile that made Nicole go weak in the knees. “Yourself?”

“Pretty good, been keeping myself busy.” Nicole glanced down at her watch suddenly realizing the time. “Sorry Waverly, I have to go, see you around?”

Waverly nodded as Nicole ran out.

“Waverly,” Shorty called to her. “You can go for  break .”

“Thanks.” Waverly plopped down her towel, making her way into the back room.

She grabbed her lunch sitting down at the small table in the back. Today hadn’t even been a busy day, but she was exhausted. She rested her head against the wall, her mind beginning to wander once again.

The first thing that came to her mind was Nicole, or rather the image of her. She was smiling, still wearing her uniform, like earlier. Waverly didn’t know why she  was imagining her, but soon enough she  was imagining a whole scenario.

_ Nicole walked into the bar, it was empty, and she set her hat down on the countertop. _

_ “What can I get for you?” Waverly asked Nicole. _

_ “Hey Waverly.” Nicole smiled at her, showing off her dimples. “Surprise me.” _

_ Waverly smiled back creating a drink for Nicole, handing it to her. _

_ “How much do I owe you?” Nicole asked. _

_ “Your pretty smile is payment enough,” Waverly teased. _

_ Nicole blushed. “Maybe I could pay you with a kiss?” _

_ Suddenly Nicole was pulling Waverly over the counter, giving her a kiss. _

“Waverly!” Shorty shouted into the back room. Waverly broke out of her daze, with the vague realization that her break was over.

Waverly jumped back to the front, getting back to work.  _ Why had she even imagined that scenario? _ She shouldn’t be dreaming of another woman seducing her when she was going on a date with her husband tonight. Waverly shook her head, hating herself, she loved Perry, she couldn’t do this to him. 

-

 

Perry drove Waverly to the restaurant. It was a fancy place with dim lighting. They enjoyed their food but neither of them talked much during their dinner. As they drove back home in silence neither wanted to admit that their romantic dinner out hadn’t really gone as  planned, and had in fact been rather boring.

“Have you ever noticed how beautiful Purgatory is at night?” Waverly asked as she stared out the window at  the forest around them . She was feeling a little bad about how their dinner turned out, still a little guilty about her thoughts about Nicole earlier.

Perry just hummed in agreement, concentrating on the road in front of them.

“We should walk through the woods,” Waverly said suddenly.

“What! No. You’re not serious?”

“Come on, stop the car.”

“Waverly.”

“Stop the car.”

Perry pulled the car over, and Waverly jumped out before Perry had even stopped the car

“Waverly!” Perry jumped out after her, wondering what had gotten into his wife. “It’s dark out. There could be anyone out here. What if there’s some crazy axe murderer out tonight?”

“Perry, it’s Purgatory.” Waverly rolled her eyes, for Purgatory wasn’t that dangerous.

“You do realize the irony of that statement?”

“Come on.” Waverly ran ahead, disappearing behind the trees.

“Waverly,” Perry hissed out, not wanting to die in the middle of the woods at night.

“Boo!” Waverly yelled, jumping out from behind a tree, scaring Perry.

“Jesus!” Perry gasped.

Waverly just laughed, grabbing Perry and pinning him against the tree.

“Waverly!” Perry was shocked at the turn of events as Waverly began taking off his sweater, giggling while kissing his neck.

“What are you doing, Waverly?” Perry asked. “Anyone could see us.”

“There isn’t anyone here.”

“We have a house. A very nice one, with a bed,” Perry said against Waverly’s kisses.

Waverly moved to taking Perry’s belt off.

“God,” Perry moaned, his head falling back against the tree.

“Nicely done!” A voice called out.

Waverly and Perry jumped apart, as a group of teenagers cheered, running past them. One boy gave them a thumbs up and Perry waved awkwardly, sending some teenaged girls snickering.

Waverly watched the group of teens run off. “Okay, so maybe sex in the woods wasn’t such a great idea.”

Perry just laughed, even despite Waverly’s embarrassment.

-

“Hey Nicole, can you let me know if Waverly comes by?” Wynonna asked Nicole when they were at work. “She is supposed to pick me up for dinner tonight. I just have to help Dolls with some stuff. I don’t want to miss here. She kind of got upset when I came late last time.”

“Will do. I’m sure she misses you.” Nicole told her.

“I miss her to. She seems different recently.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know more distant. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Well I’ll keep an eye out for her, you go do your job.”

Wynonna nodded, leaving Nicole to her own work.

Nicole suddenly realized what she had just agreed to, that she was going to be interacting with Waverly again. A lump got caught in her throat thinking about last time she had said hi. Waverly had seemed chill, but Nicole had been so nervous. The only reason she had been able to act casual was the fact that she was on the job.

Nicole had found herself not being able to get Waverly off her mind the past few days. It had all started after the night they had hung  out, when Waverly had almost kissed her. Nicole just told herself that she was  overthinking it. She had simply  been wishing that Waverly would kiss  her, and then assumed she was going to. Waverly wouldn’t kiss her, she was married.

But Nicole couldn’t help but wonder what she would have done if Waverly had kissed  her, if she had meant to kiss her. Nicole wanted that so much, and she kept hating herself for wanting that. She was mad because she couldn’t stop thinking about it, about her. Waverly was gorgeous and amazing, but she was married. Nicole was not the kind of person to get in the way of a marriage. She couldn’t do that, she wasn’t the type of person who ruined a relationship.

Nicole tried to focus on her work, trying to distract herself from the fact that she was going to see Waverly again. Thrown back into her work, Nicole didn’t even hear anyone walk in, and suddenly she was looking up to see Waverly looking around the station, probably looking for Wynonna. Nicole’s voice was caught in her throat, lost in how gorgeous Waverly looked, lost in the thought of what it would be like if she kissed her.

“Hey Nicole,” Waverly smiled at her, having caught her eye. She bit her  lip, as though a little nervous.

“Wynonna just left to do some work.” Nicole managed to tell her. “I can go find her for you.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure I can find her on my own.” Waverly quickly walked away from Nicole, she had been hoping that Nicole wouldn’t be at work, as she really didn’t really want to see her again. She didn’t want to confront whatever strange feelings she was having  in regards to the woman.

Nicole just sat at her desk, her work left untouched, until Waverly reappeared with Wynonna at her side.

Wynonna grabbed her stuff from her desk and wished Nicole a good night. Even Waverly gave a quick wave before leaving for the night.

-

 

Dinner was much the same as usual, Wynonna and Perry bickered most of the time, while Waverly sat there rather spaced out.

“You okay babe?” Perry asked her.

“I’m not feeling that great tonight,” Waverly admitted.

“I can send Wynonna home and you can go rest if you want.”

“I could use some rest.” Waverly said slowly. “I’ll send her home though.”

After Wynonna left, Perry promised to give Waverly some  quiet time, letting her rest in their room while he did some work at the table.

Waverly tried to get some sleep at first, but she just tossed and turned with no success. Eventually she gave a defeated sigh, pulling her computer onto her lap. She began scrolling through her usual social media feed, preoccupying her tired mind. When she was caught up with all of her social  media, she stared at her blank search bar. Her cursor blinked on the screen.

It wasn’t unusual when Waverly couldn’t sleep for her to watch porn and masterbate. But tonight she had a different curiosity, something that had been dwelling on the back of her mind. She glanced around the room, quietly listening making sure that Perry was still working away on his computer. She felt a little weird, and a bit bad for being all sneaky behind Perry’s back. She searched up pornographic videos involving two women. She watched one video, slightly entranced, but not sure if she was really into it or not.

She didn’t even hear Perry get up, and suddenly the door to the room opened. Waverly scrambled to close the window, trying to get rid of the video. Perry jumped down on the bed, smiling at her playfully, only vaguely catching a brief flash of the video before Waverly managed to close it, her heart racing faster than ever before.

“What are you watching babe?” Perry asked.

“Nothing,” Waverly said, hating her racing heart.

“Looked a little interesting.” He smiled. “Do you want to watch some together?”

“I’m not really in the mood tonight,” Waverly said, placing the computer back on the  bedside table.

“You sure?” Perry asked, confused why Waverly would have been watching such a thing if she wasn’t in the mood.

“I’m still not feeling very well,” Waverly said, turning over in the bed, facing away from Perry.

“Okay,” Perry said softly. He was beginning to feel more and more distant from Waverly with each day. He wished he knew what was going on with her, or if it was something he had done.

-

 

_ The ground was cold and mist filled the dark forest that seemed to expand everywhere beyond where Waverly was standing. She shivered because of the cold, the air felt  _ _ thick _ _ and it was hard to breathe. _

_ “Waverly?” she heard a voice call out from the empty forest. _

_ “Who is it?” she called out. _

_ She turned around seeing no one, but when she turned back around, there, standing beside her was Nicole. _

_ “Waverly, what are you doing here? You could freeze.” _

_ “Nicole?” She was confused about what the other woman was doing there. _

_ “You shouldn’t have followed me. It’s dangerous out here. Besides, you made promises.” _

_ “I…” Waverly wasn’t sure what to tell her, but her heart was beating inside of her chest. Nicole looked amazing. _

_ Nicole gently cupped her cheek, leaning in to give her a gentle kiss. It was quick and Waverly was left craving more. _

_ “I love you too,” Nicole said, her eyes full of love. _

_ She intertwined her fingers with Waverly’s. The grass beneath Waverly’s feet began to grow up above her legs, bits of ivy twisting around her legs and down her arms. The ivy twisted around her fingers and down to where Nicole’s hand linked with her own. It wrapped around their arms as if connecting them. She felt safe and warm. _

_ Then suddenly the ivy began to twist around her chest, and it tightened around her. Nicole began to fade away, and Waverly tired to hold on tight or scream but she could do nothing as the ivy twisted tighter around her chest, making it hard for her to breath. _

Waverly jolted awake, a cold sweat over her whole body. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was racing. Her dream must have terrified her. Perry turned beside her, he hadn’t been woken up by Waverly’s nightmare. She touched her lips lightly, the feeling of Nicole’s lips on her own in her dream felt so real. It had all felt so real. And Nicole’s words. She didn’t know what all of these feelings meant, but clearly it was all something, something she had to sort out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks guys for continuing to read this, and leaving kudos and such. I'd love it if you left a comment. This has been my baby for over a year and I put so much effort into it, I'd just love to hear what you guys think especially as the story progresses.


	7. The Kiss

 

Nicole was swamped with piles of paperwork once again, she groaned to herself noticing how much longer she still had, even though it felt like she had been here for an eternity. Nicole heard footsteps coming from down the hall and Waverly came walking into the station.

Nicole smiled up at her, glad to have the beautiful face brighten her afternoon. Though Nicole wasn’t sure she could ever hate the sight of Waverly, she was a bit annoyed, for she was doing a great job of not thinking about her, and now here she was standing there, like she didn’t realize the effect she was having on her.

“Hey Waverly,” Nicole called out. “Wynonna just left for the night.”

“Oh,” Waverly said, standing there as if in a trance.

Nicole went back to her paperwork, figuring Waverly would just leave. But when she looked up again Waverly was still standing there in the same spot.

“Is there anything I help you with?” Nicole asked.

Waverly began marching off into Nedley’s office. Nicole was confused, watching her move into the office, and followed after her.

“What is it, Waverly?” Nicole asked, suddenly concerned about the other woman.

Waverly pulled Nicole into the room, closing the door behind her, Nicole didn’t have a clue what was going on.

“Are you okay Waverly?” Nicole asked, very concerned her.

“I’m fine,” Waverly said, like nothing weird was happening. “I just need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay. I don’t understand why you dragged me into Nedley’s office though.”

“It’s about me, well maybe me and Perry. Things between us haven’t been like what I imagined. I feel so bad, the other day he asked if I was pregnant.”

“What?!” Nicole was shocked. “Are you pregnant?”

“No, no.” Waverly shook her head. “I can’t be pregnant because we haven’t been having sex.”

“ Ahh ...”

“I love Perry, I do. He’s my best friend, right? I should be lucky, I got to marry my best friend. I should be happy.”

“Right,” Nicole stated, still rather confused as to what was happening.

“But I’m not happy, at least I don’t think so. I don’t know … and then you show up, and… and…”

Waverly was staring at Nicole with those beautiful eyes and Nicole couldn’t keep up with her rambling, still rather confused as to what was happening, or why she had dragged her into Nedley’s office.

“When I saw you at the  wedding I was drawn to you. It was like something was drawing me to you. Like we were connected, but I didn’t know how. And now I can’t get you off my mind. I think about you every day.”

“Really?” Nicole breathed out, struck with the fact that Waverly thought of her every day, just like she did.

“I don’t know what this connection is between us. But I think I might be falling for you.”

“You like me?” Nicole stuttered out.

“I can’t like you,” Waverly continued on, as though Nicole had said nothing. “I’m married to Perry and I love him. He’s a great guy. And I can’t go falling… falling for you. I can’t do that, not to him.”

“I understand,” Nicole said slowly, still shocked at the fact that Waverly might like her too.

Waverly was still looking up at Nicole, and Nicole wasn’t sure where to go from here, what to say. 

Then the next thing she knew Waverly was grabbing the lapels of her shirt and pulling her down for a kiss. Nicole lost herself in the kiss.But some sense of rationality kicked in and she broke away.

“What about Perry?” Nicole asked tentatively, for even though she really liked Waverly, she knew that Waverly was still married to Perry.

“Oh god, oh god.” Waverly began to pace around the room, her fingers at her lips. “I don’t know why I did that, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay Waverly,” Nicole tried to reassured her.

“It’s not okay. Here I go kissing you, and he thinks it’s all his fault. What’s wrong with me?” Waverly sniffled.

“Waverly.” Nicole gently touched her shoulder, trying to calm her. “It’s okay. Um, maybe you should figure some things out, talk to him about this.”

“I should go,” Waverly said, wiping her eyes, pushing off Nicole’s comforting hand.

“Waverly.” Nicole called out as Waverly began to walk away, not really sure if she was okay.

“It’s okay Nicole,” Waverly said, continuing walking.

Nicole sighed, leaning up against the door. She wasn’t really sure what had just happened, or what she had gotten into. But she was definitely sure that she was falling for Waverly.

-

 

With the kiss still fresh on Nicole’s mind, she found herself walking into the closest bar. Of course Wynonna just so happened to be there as well.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Wynonna slurred. “What brings you down here tonight?”

“It’s nothing,” Nicole said, sitting down beside her.

“You wouldn’t be here if it was nothing. Come on, you can tell me.”

“I really don’t think I should.”

“You can tell me all of your dirty little secrets. I’m not going to remember them in the morning anyway ,” Wynonna winked.

Nicole knew telling Wynonna about what just happened with her own sister wasn’t a great idea, but she did want to  try and figure things out a bit. “It’s about a woman.”

“When is it not? What did the bitch do now?”

“ Well you see, the thing is she’s not a bitch, not really at least. She’s really nice, and friendly, and beautiful.”

“Sounds like a bitch. You like her?”

Nicole nodded.

“But it’s one sided?”

“From what just happened I think she might actually like me,” Nicole explained.

“She likes you? Where’s the problem in that? Go for it!”

“She’s with someone else.”

“But she loves you? ”

Nicole laughed awkwardly at the mention of love. “I don’t think she loves me.  Besides she’s with another person, and she loves him.”

“ Eww ,” Wynonna grumbled.

“I can’t break up a couple.”

“So you’re just going to let the poor girl be miserable, wondering how much better her life would have been if she was with you?”

“It’s not like that. They’re happy together.”

“What is happy?” Wynonna asked hypothetically.

Nicole could tell she was probably too drunk to give actual rational advice, and didn’t want to reveal anymore.

“Just hand me a drink,” she told her.  

-

“Guess what?” Perry said excitedly, coming home not to soon after Waverly had returned home after her kiss with Nicole.

Waverly almost jumped when Perry came in. She was still trying to figure out why she kissed Nicole, and feeling rather horrible for cheating on Perry. Perry seemed happy though, he was smiling like crazy, and he carried a bottle of champagne in his hand.

“What? Are we celebrating?” Waverly asked, confused about Perry’s excitement.

“I got a promotion!” Perry cheered.

“That’s fantastic,” Waverly said in a distant tone.

“You’re not happy?”

“No, I am,” Waverly quickly said, feeling bad for not showing more enthusiasm for Perry. “I’m sorry Per, I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.” She felt bad, she was supposed to love him.  _ She did love him, right? _

Perry just nodded at Waverly’s words.

“I’m so happy for you,” she said kissing him on the cheek. “For us.” Waverly toyed with his tie. “Why don’t we go to bed, and I can show you how happy I am for us?”

Perry smiled. “We don’t have to, Waverly.”

“I love you,” she said, quietly trying to reassure herself.

Perry gave her a soft smile and Waverly pouted as she toyed with his tie. A smirk came across Perry’s face and he picked her up in one easy swoop, sending Waverly laughing away as he carried her over to their room, dropping her on the bed and kissing her passionately.  

-

Waverly woke up early the next morning, sneaking off quietly to the washroom. She splashed some water on her face, staring back at her reflection in the mirror.

When she returned to the bedroom, Perry was still asleep. She came to lie beside him, running her fingers through his hair.

“I’m sorry Perry,” Waverly whispered to him. “I think I fell for someone, and it wasn’t you. I shouldn’t have, but I did. But I love you and nothing is going to come of it. You’re my best friend, I made a promise to you, and I’m choosing you.” She kissed the top of his head before snuggling up on the bed beside him.

 


	8. A Choice

Waverly didn’t really want to go over to see Nicole again, but she knew that she had to talk to her. She was sure she left Nicole rather  confused, as the last time she had seen her she had kissed her. When Waverly walked into the sheriff’s office, Wynonna smiled at her, shocked to see her as they had not planned anything for that evening. Waverly went over to talk with Wynonna for a bit, taking some time to work up the courage to talk to Nicole. Her eyes wandered over to Nicole, who was sitting at her desk, clearly invested in her work as she talked to Wynonna.  

“I have to talk to Nicole about something,” Waverly told Wynonna as they finished catching up.

“Sure. She’s kind of hung up about some girl troubles, so be nice.”

Waverly cringed, feeling even more terrible about what she was about to do.

“Hey,” Waverly said, coming to stand next to Nicole’s desk.

“Hey,” Nicole said, looking up at her.

“Can we talk?”

Nicole nodded, leading her into a conference room.

Waverly walked in circles for a  bit trying to find the right words. “I just wanted to say that whatever this is, it can’t happen. I can’t hurt Perry.”

“Do you love him?” Nicole asked.

“I do,” Waverly said.

Nicole nodded with a small sigh. “If you love him, I’m not going to get in the way of that.”

“I think it might be best if we don’t see each other again,” Waverly added quietly. She didn’t want to hurt Nicole, but even being around her made her feel strange. “I’m sorry Nicole. But I think this is for the best. I’m sorry things couldn’t have gone differently.”

Waverly gave a sigh before walking out of the conference room, a few tears beginning to fall from her eyes. In her haze she walked right out of the station, with Wynonna staring confused after her. She quickly got up and made her way out to see what was going on with her sister. When she came  outside she found Waverly crying.

“Waverly?” Wynonna’s protective older sister instincts were kicked into overdrive at the sight of her sister crying. “Waves? What is it baby-girl?” she asked, pulling her into a hug.

Waverly cried into her sister’s arms, and despite Wynonna’s prompting she wouldn’t tell her anything. “I just want to go home,” Waverly finally said, sniffling.

Wynonna nodded, more than willing to take her back to her place. Wynonna brought home the sniffling  Waverly. As Perry was working for the night, Wynonna stayed lying beside her sister until she fell asleep.

-

Nicole hadn’t been able to get much sleep that night. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Waverly  said, that she didn’t want to see her anymore. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but she couldn’t help but feel terrible.

A knock came from Nicole’s door. Nicole was rather confused, as it was crazy late at night, but she opened the door  anyways , finding a furious Wynonna.

“Wynonna, it’s really late, what are you doing here?” Nicole asked.

“Really Nicole, MY SISTER?!” Wynonna yelled out, her voice furious.

“Wynonna…” Nicole wasn’t sure what to say, or how Wynonna had figured it out.

“She’s married, Nicole!” Wynonna was still shouting at her.

“I’m sorry,” Nicole said sadly, feeling worse than before.

“You just thought that you could come and swoop in right when they were having trouble, huh?”

“That’s not…”

“What was it like then, huh Nicole? I just spent the night at my sister’s side, while she cried herself to sleep.”

Nicole’s heart sank at the idea. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “Besides,  it’s over. She doesn’t want to see me ever again.”

“Good,” Wynonna said sternly. “I thought you weren’t the type of person to do this sort of thing. You know I may be oblivious sometimes, but I’m not stupid, okay? If you hurt my sister again…”

Nicole nodded, Wynonna had every right to be angry at her.

“See you at work tomorrow,” Wynonna said, with a flippant wave goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the really short chapter, but the next one is the good one


	9. A Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is sort of like the end of the story, and the next chapter is the epilogue.

 

“Where are you going?” Jeremy asked, vaguely awake, and rather confused as Nicole was standing with the door open, bringing various bags into her truck.

“I’m just taking a trip,” Nicole said simply.

“Since when?” Jeremy asked.

“I just need to get away,” Nicole explained. “It will only be for a few days. I need you to take care of Calamity Jane for me.”

“Is this about Waverly?” Jeremy asked.

Nicole looked up, and there were tears in her eyes, confirming Jeremy’s suspicions.

“How…?” Nicole started.

“I’m pretty observant, in case you haven’t realized, plus you’ve been  kind of off these past few days.”

“Well it’s over now, if that’s what you’re concerned about, not that it even started really .”

Jeremy gave a slow sigh, feeling bad for his friend. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. I just need to get away. I need some time for myself, to relax and rejuvenate. You know, the whole deal.”

“Did you tell anyone else you were leaving?”

Nicole didn’t say anything.

“You can’t just run away without telling anyone.”

“Worked for me last time,” Nicole mumbled.

“Did you even talk with Waverly?”

“We talked, Jeremy, she made it clear she doesn’t want anything to do with me. She loves Perry and I can’t stand in the way of that.”

“So you just expect me to tell them that you’re leaving.”

“Tell them whatever you want, Jeremy,” Nicole said, bringing another bag into the truck, the screen door slamming behind her. 

-

 

Perry had come home late last night, and Waverly had been fast asleep by the time he came home. He wasn’t even aware that she had been crying beside Wynonna only a few moments ago. Waverly had seemed very down the whole morning, seeming even more distant  than before, hardly even saying much to Perry at all. As they ate breakfast, Waverly went to go sit outside and Perry watched her, not sure how to help her. A knock came from the front door, and Perry opened it to find Wynonna.

“Hey.” Perry let her in. “I suppose you’re here for whatever is going on with Waverly.”

“She’s still not feeling too good?” Wynonna asked.

“She’s been distant all morning. Did something happen last night?”

“I don’t really know everything,” Wynonna said softly. “I’m going to go talk with her.”

Wynonna made her way out to the back porch where Waverly was sitting.

Perry stood in the kitchen watching them as he washed the dishes, vaguely overhearing their conversation through the kitchen window. He felt a horrible pit in his stomach, he wasn’t sure what was going on but the little voice in his head was telling him that Waverly had fallen in love with someone else. It had always been his worst  fear, that some guy would appear and she’d realize she didn’t really love him. They had always been best friends, but Perry always wondered quietly if that would be enough for a relationship.

Wynonna’s phone buzzed in her pocket as she said hi to Waverly, asking how she was doing The phone continued to buzz and she looked at it, noticing that it was Jeremy. She gave an annoyed huff, telling Waverly she’d just be a moment, stepping off to the side as she picked up the phone.

“What do you want Jeremy? This better be important, because I don’t really have the time right now.”

“It’s Nicole,” Jeremy said frantically. “She’s leaving.”

“What?!” Wynonna asked, as Waverly gave her a confused look.

“I don’t know. I think she was about to run away without telling me too. I’m worried.”

“Where is she going?”

“She doesn’t even know. But she’s literally jumping in her truck now. Nothing I can say can stop her.”

“What does she  think she’s doing?” Wynonna sighed. “Thanks for telling me Jeremy. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks Wynonna,” Jeremy said as Wynonna hung up.

“Who was that?” Waverly asked, as Wynonna walked back towards her.

“Jeremy,” Wynonna explained.

“What did he want?”

“Nicole’s leaving.”

“She  leaving ?” Waverly asked in a strange, distant tone.

Wynonna just nodded as Waverly stood there in a trance.

“This is all because of me,” She whispered, her voice still distant.

Suddenly there was a loud sound of a door slamming and both Wynonna and Waverly jumped at the sound. Waverly ran into the house, looking around the empty house.

“Perry,” she called out, suddenly realizing that he had gone out the front door. He must have overheard their conversation.

Waverly ran out to the front where Perry was starting to walk down the driveway.

“Perry!” she called out to him, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

Perry turned around to face Waverly, though there was still a big space between them. There were tears in his own eyes. “You fell in love with her, didn’t you?” Perry asked.

Waverly didn’t know what to say.

“You fell in love with Nicole.”

“I didn’t…”

Tears fell from both of their eyes.

“I love you,” Waverly told him through her tears.

“But you don’t,” Perry said, only slightly angry. “Not really. Waverly, who are we kidding? We don’t love each other. We’ve been having fun, sure. But we don’t really love each other, not that kind of love at least.”

“But I do love you. You’re my best friend,” Waverly pleaded with him as she walked closer.

“Best friend, Waverly. That’s it. I’m not your soulmate though. You were just with me because it seemed like the most reasonable option.”

“I choose you Per,” Waverly said, taking his hands.

Perry pulled his hands away from her own. “Please don’t, Waverly. I can’t have you being with me when you don’t love me. I can’t have you living the rest of your life wondering if you made the wrong decision. I want you to be happy Waverly. I wanted so desperately to be that source of happiness, but clearly I’m not. If you love her, I shouldn’t stand in the way of that.”

Perry gave a sigh. “You should go stop her, before she’s gone,” Perry said, turning away and walking away down the streets of the neighbourhood.

Waverly was left alone on the driveway, tears falling from her eyes. She wasn’t sure what to do, if she should go after Perry. She wasn’t even sure if she really loved him. Maybe he was right.

She fell down on the paved driveway, all the emotions being too much. Wynonna must have come running out of the house, for the next moment she was sitting down next to her, wrapping her into a tight hug and comforting her.

“I think Perry just left me,” Waverly half laughed, half cried. She still wasn’t sure what was happening. “How could I do this? I just ruined everyone’s lives. I’m a horrible person, Wynonna.”

“You’re not a horrible person,” Wynonna said, rubbing her hand up and down Waverly’s arm.

“I think I fell in love with her, Wynonna. I was going to choose Perry though. I tried to be a good person. I tried to do the right thing.”

“You fell in love with Nicole?” Wynonna asked, slightly shocked.

“I don’t know,” Waverly sniffled. “Perry thinks I should go and be happy with her.”

“What do you want?”

“I just want things to be normal.”

“When have things ever been normal for us  Earp’s ?”

Waverly smiled slightly, leaning against her sister.

“Why don’t we go back inside?”

Wynonna pulled Waverly up, never letting her go as she led her back into the house, sitting her down on the small couch.

“I don’t know what to do, Wynonna. I think Perry might be right, I don’t think we love each other, at least not in that kind of way. I thought that we were perfect for each other because he was my best friend. But maybe…” Waverly sniffled some more, not being able to put the rest of the words together.

Wynonna nodded, still trying to figure everything out. Just last night she had been yelling at Nicole, sure the woman had been the one to put a tear in Waverly and Perry’s relationship, and now she was learning that Waverly might just like Nicole back.

“I never wanted to hurt Perry.”

“I think Perry realizes that, he let you go right? He gave you the option, to go to Nicole.”

“Oh, Nicole!” Waverly gasped suddenly. “I was so mean to her. I told her I never wanted to see her again.”

“But you do want to see her again?”

“Of course. She’s so nice, and fun… and really pretty.” Waverly blushed at the last part. “I feel so horrible, I really don’t know what to think. Everything's happening so fast.”

“Well, Nicole’s leaving any minute now.”

“I can’t let her leave.”

“What does that mean, are we going after  her ?” Wynonna asked, a smirk forming on her face.

“Yeah,” Waverly said, smiling. “Let’s go stop her.” 

-

 

Waverly drove at racing speeds down the main road that led out of Purgatory. Wynonna gripped the side of the Jeep as they sped along, only hoping that they could catch Nicole before she was long gone. They were a few good miles outside of Purgatory before they spotted Nicole’s truck up ahead.

“There she is!” Wynonna yelled out, pointed in front of them.

With Wynonna’s excitement Waverly threw her foot onto the gas pedal, picking up speed driving down the dusty road. She sped right past Nicole’s truck, driving a good distance past the truck, suddenly turning her jeep, the brakes and gears of the car squealing, picking up a great cloud of dirt off the road. The jeep came to a halting stop in front of Nicole’s truck.

Nicole was startled by the sudden car speeding right by hers, coming to a sudden stop in the middle of the road. She slammed on her brakes, terrified that she was going to crash. Luckily there was lots of space between the two cars, and she stopped in time. Her heart was racing with pure fear, almost ready to start yelling at whatever crazy person had made her almost crash her car.

Waverly jumped out of her car, and Nicole’s heart leaped at the sight of her.

“Nicole!” Waverly ran over to her truck.

“Waverly, what was that?! You could have killed both of us!” Nicole yelled at her.

Waverly jumped up to the side of Nicole’s truck, her head at Nicole’s window. Nicole shifted over a bit in her seat, feeling a little unsure. She had just been driving off to get away from Waverly, she didn’t have any idea why Waverly was here.

“I thought you didn’t want to see each other again,” Nicole muttered quietly.

“I’m sorry Nicole. Please don’t leave. You have a job here in Purgatory.”

Nicole looked over at her in confusion. “I’m not leaving forever Waverly, just a few days.”

Waverly breathed a sigh of relief. “I don’t want you to go… please,” she begged softly. “I kind of like you.”

“What about Perry?”

“He found out. He left and told me that I should go be with you.”

“What? But you love him, you married him.”

Waverly sighed, Perry’s words from earlier were still ringing in her head. “I married him because he was my best friend. I thought that’s what people do, marry their best friends. I thought I loved him, but the thing was, I hadn’t met my soulmate yet.”

Nicole turned to face her eyes, a brief flicker of happiness building in her chest. “You think I’m your soulmate?” she asked timidly.

“I don’t know. But I don’t have another explanation for it. When I saw you at my wedding, something clicked between us. Maybe it was love at first sight.”

Nicole blushed at the comment. She wasn’t even sure she believed in the whole love at first sight and soulmates thing. But here Waverly was, saying all of these things, and Nicole could hardly believe it was all happening.

“Can I come in?” Waverly asked shyly, jumping own from the truck

Nicole pushed open the door, shuffling over to make room for Waverly in the truck.

Waverly climbed in. “Please don’t go,” she begged. “I can’t stand the idea that I was the person that made you leave.”

“I won’t go,” Nicole told her softly. “I don’t really trust Jeremy to take care of my cat  anyways .”

Waverly laughed lightly, and Nicole thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

The car horn from Waverly’s jeep honked loudly. Wynonna popped her head out, yelling, “Is she  staying or what!?”

“I’m staying,” Nicole yelled back.

“Thank you,” Waverly said, taking Nicole’s hand into her hand.

“Now what?” Nicole asked.

“I can help you unpack,” Waverly offered. “I mean I still have a lot to figure out. We should probably talk about…” Waverly gave a nervous laugh. “You know, stuff. I really like you Nicole, and I don’t want you to go.”

“I promise you I’m not leaving.”

Waverly smiled and leaned in to give her a kiss. It was short and sweet, with promises of much more to come. Nicole knew there was still much to figure out and didn’t push further. There would be lots of time to figure things out.

Wynonna honked the horn from the jeep, making the two women jump. “Are we going back or what?” Wynonna yelled.

“Yeah, we’re going back!” Nicole yelled out, as her and Waverly shuffled around in the truck so that she could drive it back to Purgatory.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for leaving kudos and comments, they fuel me :)


	10. A Birthday

**About a Year Later**

 

“Good morning, Beautiful.”

Waverly groaned, burrowing deeper into her blankets, despite Nicole summoning her up from her slumber.

“Time to wake up, today’s a special day.”

“I don’t want to get up though,” Waverly moaned.

“But I have a surprise for you.”

Waverly cracked open one eye. “A surprise?”

“I do believe that it is someone’s birthday today.”

“It is,” Waverly said, sitting up and smiling. She yawned and blinked. “Good morning. It is nice to see you.”

“Nice to see you too.”

“You look very nice.”

Nicole blushed. “You look nice too.”

Waverly kissed Nicole. It still felt strange, the reality that she was dating Nicole.

“So, what’s my surprise?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you.”

Waverly tried to give Nicole her best pouty face, but Nicole didn’t cave.

“You have to come downstairs to see.”

“Do I have to get dressed?”

“Maybe just a sweater. I know how cold you get.”

“Alright.” Waverly got out of bed and threw on her housecoat. “Lead the way.”

Nicole led Waverly down the stairs and put on her shoes to head outside.

“We’re going outside?” Waverly inquired.

“Your surprise is in the barn.”

“Okay, now I’m very intrigued.”

Waverly and Nicole began to walk out to the barn and Nicole instructed Waverly to close her eyes as she opened the barn doors.

“Okay. Open your eyes!”

Waverly opened her eyes to find the ground of the barn covered in sand. There was a small inflatable pool in the middle of the barn with a cluster of lights and wire made to look like a palm tree standing precariously beside it. Beach chairs were placed around the pool and Wynonna was sitting in one, wearing a bikini and sunglasses while holding a drink with one of those little umbrellas in it.

 

“Happy birthday!” Wynonna said.

Waverly started laughing. “What!”

“Um, you’re always talking about how you would love a beach vacation, so I recruited Wynonna to help me set this up.”

“This is hilarious guys. But also amazing! I love it.” Waverly jumped up to wrap her arms around her girlfriend and kissed her.

“Ugh, you guys are disgustingly cute. How?” Wynonna groaned.

“I vote we send Wynonna away so that we can spend the day together, alone.”

Waverly laughed quietly against her girlfriend's skin. “She did help you out, though.”

Nicole grumbled quietly.

“I’ll make sure that we have the whole night to ourselves.”

Nicole raised an eyebrow at that.

“So do we want a party up in here or what?” Wynonna asked.

“Let me get appropriately dressed. Then yes.”

Nicole had already invited everyone a few days ago, but she let everyone know that it was good to come over as Waverly got changed. Their few friends shuffled into the barn, bringing goodies and presents. A few wore beach outfits, despite the cold weather, and pretty much everyone took off their shoes to go put their feet in the pool.

Waverly appeared in a cute cover-up dress and fun sunglasses.

“Happy birthday!” Everyone cheered.

Waverly was ecstatic to see everyone, and went around giving hugs and such.

Drinks and food were passed around with laughter and stories. Games were played. Water was splashed and sand was thrown. At one point, music began, and everyone joined in, dancing and singing. When they were all out of breath, Waverly decided to start opening presents. The partying continued for a while after, but eventually things started to die down and people started to say their goodbyes.

“If you want I can find someplace to sleep for the night,” Wynonna whispered to Waverly.

“Thank you. Stay safe, have fun.” Waverly gave her sister a hug.

“Yeah, just don't stay up too late with officer hot-stuff there, okay?”

Waverly just hummed.

“Happy birthday baby girl,” Wynonna said, giving her sister one last tight hug.

“We can clean up tomorrow,” Nicole said.

“I like having our own beach right in our backyard.”

“I mean eventually we should probably clean up.”

“Eventually. Right now though,” Waverly took Nicole’s hands into her own.

“You’re such a tease, you know that?”

Waverly just smiled.

“God you’re beautiful.”

Nicole kissed Waverly.

“Thank you for this amazing birthday gift.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two headed back inside, holding hands the entire way. Upon opening the door, they noticed a letter lying on the ground. Nicole picked it up and handed it to Waverly. “It’s addressed to you.”

Waverly couldn’t imagine who would have dropped off a letter for her to the homestead. Waverly opened it.

“It’s from Perry,” she said slowly.

“Oh. I’ll give you a moment,” Nicole said, leaving Waverly to sit down in the kitchen.

Things with Perry hadn’t ended badly, in fact he had been rather reasonable through the whole divorce ordeal and following days. Waverly hadn’t heard from him in a while though, as he had moved to another town due to his job.

 

_Dear Waverly,_

_I hope you’re having the best birthday ever, you deserve it after all._

_Sometimes I miss you, and I wonder how you're doing. I just wanted to let you know that I don’t want you to feel bad. I’m happy and I hope you’re happy too. I hope Nicole makes you happy (I know that she does).  So I guess I’m happy for you. That’s all I really wanted, for you to be happy. I hope you feel loved, cause you are. You’re the most amazing person in the world, Waverly, and I hope life is being good to you._

_Perhaps we can catch up sometime. Maybe I’ll come over to your house and you and Nicole can make me dinner. That would be nice._

_Best wishes._

_Always your friend, Perry_

 

Waverly felt a little teary-eyed at Perry’s letter, and made a mental note to write him back.

Nicole came into the kitchen, looking at her with a simple smile. “What did Perry have to say?”

“Just wishing us a happy life.”

“That’s awfully nice of him.”

Waverly nodded as she placed the letter on the table.

“So I got one more present for you.”

“You did?”

Nicole walked over and Waverly realized she was hiding something behind her back.

“For you, my lady.” Nicole revealed that she had been holding a small bouquet of flowers behind her back.

“Lilies.” Waverly almost laughed as she took the flowers from Nicole, smelling them. “They’re beautiful, thank you.”

“I do seem to recall them being your favourite.”

Waverly glared at her as she put the flowers in a vase with water.

“So did you have a good birthday?” Nicole asked as Waverly walked back into her arms.

“The best one. Because you were in it.”

“Cheesy.” Nicole smiled against Waverly’s lips, before kissing her. “Soulmate,” Nicole whispered softly.

“I thought you didn’t believe in that?”

“Not till I met you.”

“You literally met me on my wedding day.”

“I met you before. But let’s not think too much about that. Now that Wynonna’s out for the night, should we take this to the bedroom?”

Waverly giggled, rolling her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are at the end of my story. Hope you all enjoyed the story. Thanks again for everyone who read this. And a big thank you for everyone who left such amazing comments. It was great hearing what you guys thought. I know the ending my seem a bit rushed, but hey RomComs always have a rushed ending.


End file.
